Fighting for our families
by Alicehime-sama
Summary: The girls left without saying goodbye. Four years later, they come back with children by their side and new enemies to fight. How will the boys cope with the situation? Will they be able to help the kunoichis protect their families? SasuSaku, NaruHina, NejiTen, InoKiba, ShikaTema, and GaaraMatsu.
1. We just need to leave

Hi! This is my first story in English so I am very excited! I know there are plenty of other 'the girls leave and come back stronger, possibly with children' type of story, but I wanted to have my own version. So here it is! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and its characters.

Chapter 1: We just need to leave

Sakura scanned her room one last time, making sure she had everything she would need for the departure. 'It looks so different now' she thought. Gone were her cloths, weapons, and scrolls, all packed neatly for the trip. Most of her souvenirs and pictures would remain here, as bringing them would be more inconvenient than anything. She spotted on her desk the two pictures of Team 7. A small nostalgic smile appeared on her lips as she grabbed the two frames. The first one was the original Team 7 with Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, and Sasuke. The second one was the new team that now included Sai. She knew she would miss them, miss Konoha, miss her home, 'Miss him,' she thought as a single tear landed on the glass. She took her pack and headed downstairs.

As she entered the living room, she recognized Ino's pack on the couch. Setting her things next to it, she went to the kitchen where she found her friend eating the pack of strawberry she had bought the day before.

\- It's only 4 in the morning, eating already Ino-Pig? teased the girl.

\- If I want to eat, I will eat Forehead. Doesn't matter the time of the day or the place. You will understand in a few weeks, grumbled the blond

\- Moody aren't we. Well, can't say I am looking forward to that, replied the cherry blossom putting her hand over her stomach.

Ino looked at her friend sadly, knowing exactly what was going through her mind.

\- It is the right decision, right? whispered the mind manipulator.

Sakura did not answer. She did not know. Were they right? Tsunade had given them her approval, and that meant that it was the right thing to do … didn't it? Her thoughts were interrupted by the bell ring of the door. Outside she could feel the chakra of Tenten, Temari, and Matsuri. Hinata said she might be a little late since she had to snick out of the Hyuuga mansion. She opened the door and let her friends in. Not a word was said. They were not needed. The girls had made their choice. There was no changing their mind now, and they knew it. They all sat in silence in the living room waiting for Hinata to arrive.

Fifteen minutes later, the heiress arrived. As she looked at her friends, she could not help but feel the feeling of pain and sadness surrounding them. Her own reason for leaving was different, although she knew there was a risk that she too… 'Don't think about it now, you will have time to worry later' she thought, 'for now there are more pressing matters.' She looked up as Sakura stood, attracting everyone's attention.

\- I spoke to Tsunade-sama yesterday to finalize the details of our trip as well as …, she stopped for a moment, … as well as how to tell the boys about our departure. She has contacted a friend who lives in a village in Taki no Kuni. She will have a house prepared for us there. It will take about a month to get to the village, especially in our conditions.

The girls nodded, they had been preparing for this trip for a few weeks now and knew what to expect.

\- Everything has been taken care of. All we need to do is leave, finished the cherry blossom.

Another silence filled the room. They just needed to leave. Easier said than done. As each of the girls went to grab their packs, they forced themselves to remember why they were leaving and why it was the right thing to do.

**Flash-back Ino six weeks ago:**

It had been a nice Friday evening. Ino had managed to drag her best friends to a new club, and they were having fun until the blond spotted Kiba on the dance floor. She had been in love him for months and while they had had quite a few dates, she had never really 'engaged' with him. Alcohol helping, she had ran to the dance floor and danced with him the rest of the evening. One thing leading to another, she had ended up waking up in his bed. As their relation had not changed after that night, Ino had thought it consequence less until three weeks later, Sakura announced her she was pregnant. For days, she had worried about whether to tell him, how to tell him, how he would react… But her worries had flown away as soon as she spotted him kissing another girl. He had never cared and rather than let here pride being destroyed by this player, Ino had decided to leave Konoha for a while to raise the baby herself.

**Flash-back Temari four weeks ago:**

It had begun with a simple conversation about relationships. He had said that relationships were too troublesome to which she had replied that he was too lazy with get a girlfriend anyway, which was good, she had said, because he would not know how to please her being the lazy crybaby he is. But she had forgotten a small detail: Shikamaru's pride. While saying it was troublesome, he had been determined to prove her that he could please a woman. And prove her he had, not that she minded, had she known that provocation was the best way to motivate the man, she would have done it sooner. However, she had not been expecting the present she discovered two weeks later. She had panicked, remembering him saying several times that children were troublesome, thinking about the relationship between Suna and Konoha… Worries had filled her until Matsuri found her and brought her to Ino, from which she learnt about her situation and her choice. Feeling that it was the best solution, she had decided to come with her.

**Flash-back Tenten four weeks ago:**

It should have been a simple mission: escort a merchant to a trade fair. A simple B rank mission. And it had been at first. Only a few attacks by thieves that had been easily disposed of. Until one of them used a bomb containing a strange drug that turned Neji and her into a hormonal mess, mixture of lust and thirst for dominance. While she had wished that her first time with Neji was different, she had not minded, cherishing the memories and knowing that it would most likely be the only time. It was not until two weeks later she learnt that she was pregnant. A few days later, she had gone to the Hyuuga manor. She had been pretty serein about the whole situation, knowing that Neji was a responsible man and firmly believing that they would find a solution together. But as she was on her way to Neji's living quarter, she had overheard a conversation between the prodigy and his uncle about being tricked into marriage because of a pregnancy, especially from lower citizens that did not meet the clan's expectations. Knowing exactly how the Hyuuga clan viewed her, she instantly knew that it would not end well for anyone, neither him, her, or the child. She had then decided to go with Ino and Temari.

**Flash-back Matsuri two weeks ago:**

It had been a cold night. A freezing night that Gaara and her spent in a cave to escape a sudden snow storm. She had been so cold, not yet used to anything but the burning sun of Suna, that no matter the fire or the layers of cloths she added, she was still shaking. She had been surprised when she heard him say something about body warmth and blushed profusely, but she knew that it would most likely be the only time she would be able to be close to the young Kazekage. With her face as red as his hair, she had laid with him to get as much warmth as she could from his body… The next morning, they had not exchanged a word and never mentioned it again. Matsuri had sworn not to let her feelings for him get the best of her until two weeks later she learnt that she was with child. She had hurried to the office of the Kazekage in Konoha to talk to Temari only to overhear Kankuro lecturing Gaara about finding a wife soon and Gaara replying that he already had someone in mind. Her heart had broken as she ran in Temari's arms. But as the older woman did not know about the woman Gaara was talking about, Matsuri had taken the decision to go with the three kunoichis to raise her child without jeopardizing Gaara's position.

**Flash-back Sakura two weeks ago:**

She had been pestering Sasuke for a while now as he still had not done his check up after being injured on a mission, but never had she imagined that he would knock at her door at two in the morning drunk and stubbornly insisting on doing the checkup right at the moment, going as far as to start stripping in the middle of her living room. And while she had had many dreams about her first time with Sasuke, in none of them had she woken up alone, with no trace of the ninja. However, the pain that she felt when she realized she was alone had been nothing to the pain that she experienced the two following weeks. He had been completely ignoring her. No talking, no being in the same places as her… And she knew he was doing it on purpose. She would have understood not talking about the night, but plain ignoring was just despicable. The last straw was when she discovered she was carrying his child. While she was happy to carry the child of the man she loved, she had sworn on the day he can back that she would not let him mess her up again, and she fully intended to keep both her promise and pride. She had been helping with preparing the trip of the four kunoichis since Ino made her decision and was going with them to help with childbirth, but at that moment she had decided that she would be staying with them longer than originally planned.

**Flash-back Hinata a few days ago:**

It had been another of these nights where Naruto would invite her to eat ramen. And just like any of these nights, there were fangirls at the ramen shop. Except that on this particular night, one of the fangirls had put an aphrodisiac in one of Naruto's ramen and the young heiress had been there when it finally kicked in as he was bringing her home. The next morning, she had awakened putting tomatoes to shame and left the apartment before Naruto awaken. On her way back home, she had come across the fangirls and overhead them talking about Naruto and her, saying that she was weak and that she was slowing him down, that he could do much better than a stuttering little child. She knew that she should not have care, but their words wounded her. She had known that the girls were planning on leaving and she decided to go with them, to train, get stronger until she could face these people, and also raise her child away from these people should she be blessed with caring his child.

So what did you think? It is a little different from what is usually be done, a little sadder, but I hope you liked it. Please don't hesitate to review!


	2. Home away from home

Thank you very much to Subzerodx for following my story! I hope you will enjoy the rest of it! And thank you for your advice MrGoodyTwoShoes, I did not know that using dashes was considered chat script. I also read your profile and will take your advices into consideration. If you have any other advices, please do not hesitate. I hope you will continue reading my story.

Chapter 2: Home away from home

Kakashi looked up from his book as he sensed familiar chakras approaching. Soon Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, Baki, and Tsunade appeared.

"I'm guessing you are here to see them off," he said.

Tsunade did not replied, instead looked at the village gate. Her apprentice was leaving her. She knew that she needed this, all of them did. Both the young kunoichis, who will be able to find their true strengths, and the children, who will be safer away from the village for the time being. With the Akastuki and Orochimaru lurking around Konoha for new followers, keeping children with such strong heritages hidden away would prevent them from attracting unwanted attention.

"Actually no, we are here to make sure the area is safe," explained Kurenai. "As much as I would like to see them off, I think it will make only things harder for everyone. The only thing we can do is secure the way up to the city of Nagoko. And you? Are you here to see them off?"

"No. I'm just here to make sure that none of the boys finds themselves here when they leave," answered the silver haired man. "I will leave as soon as they arrive."

"I will stay with you", said Baki, "just in case Gaara-sama or Kankuro come here."

The four leaf ninjas swiftly left for the forest in search of any intruders leaving Kakashi and Baki standing by the gate.

"Do you know why they are leaving?" asked the sand ninja.

"Not sure exactly," answered the Sharingan bearer. "Sakura told me that she needed to leave, that she wanted to get stronger. But she can do that here too. I feel there is something else that she was not saying."

"It is also what both Temari and Matsuri told me. But they seemed also sad and concerned, like they had something else on their mind."

"They are leaving their homes for at least a couple of years. I would be sad too, no matter how determined."

"I know, but I can't help the feeling that they are hiding something from us."

"Whatever it is, I trust that Sakura has a good reason for not saying anything and that she will let us know when the time is right. Have faith in them, they are our students after all."

"You are right."

They stood in silence for another half an hour until they sensed the presence of the kunoichis heading for the gate and quickly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The girls arrived at the gate a few minutes after leaving Sakura and Ino's house. Their hearts heavy in their chests, they looked one last time at the village and sprinted to the forest in direction to their first stop, Nagoko.

Naruto knew something was wrong even before he entered the Hokage's office. Assembling the whole Konoha 12 was rather unusual and seeing that Gaara and Kankuro had also been called only reinforced his feelings. For once he entered quietly, looking around the room for clues about their presence in the office so early in the morning. He frowned as he noticed that Hinata and the girls were not here.

"Teme, you know where the girls are? It's not like them to be late to a meeting," he asked the Uchiha.

"Don't know," answered the ninja.

"I went to Tenten's house this morning, but she was not there," said Lee. "I thought our youthful flower would already be here."

"I did not see Temari or Matsuri this morning either," said Kankuro.

"Neji, did you see Hinata before you left?" asked Kiba.

"No," answered the Hyuuga.

The boys fell in silence, suddenly hoping that whatever this meeting was about, it had nothing to do with the girls and that they were simply late. As they sensed familiar chakras approaching they relaxed, thinking that the girls had finally arrived, but tensed when they recognized their senseis' presences instead of the kunoichis'.

The door opened and Tsunade entered accompanied by Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, Gai, and Baki. She could feel the tension in the room, like they already knew and that they were daring her to say it to their faces. She slowly sat at her desk and took a deep breath.

"I have thought of many ways to announce it to you but I could not find any that will lessen the shock. Therefore I will be straightforward. Earlier this morning, Sakura Haruno, Hinata Hyuuga, Ino Yamanaka, Tenten Michio, Temari Subaku, and Matsuri Hansa left the village."

Shock was written over the faces of the young ninjas. A few seconds passed until shouts fused from all over the place.

"You've got to be kidding baa-chan! Why the hell would they have left?" shouted Naruto.

"I agree with Dickless, I see no reason why Ugly would leave," added Sai.

"Yeah, I saw Hinata just yesterday for training and she did not say anything about leaving!" said Kiba.

"If it is some kind of payback for last time Baki, it is not funny!" exclaimed Kankuro.

"Why would our youthful flower be gone Gai –sensei?" cried Lee.

"With all due respect, Tsunade-sama, it has to be some kind of mistake," said Neji. "I saw Tenten yesterday afternoon and Hinata in the evening and they did not…"

"I know you are confused and shocked, but it is the truth, they have come to me and your senseis a week ago and ask to leave the village for a few years for training," cut Tsunade. "Although I can see that not all of you are surprised," she continued looking at Shikamaru, Choji, and Gaara.

The rest of the boys looked at them. Indeed Shikamaru and Gaara looked lost in thoughts while Choji had let go of his chips, a sad but not surprised expression on his face.

"Shikamaru and I had noticed that Ino was acting strange, like she was preparing something but would not tell us what. And Sakura was acting the same whenever she and Ino thought they were alone," Choji explained. "Over the past few weeks, it looked like all the kunoichis had joined them, but we did not know they were preparing to…"

"Why did not you say anything?" shouted Kiba. "We could have done something! Anything!"

"Really?" interrupted Shikamaru. "Could we really have done something? We all know that they are quite stubborn when they want to; I doubt that we could have changed their mind. Furthermore, like Choji said, we did not know they were planning on leaving; with the anniversary of the creation of the teams coming soon, we thought they were planning a surprise party or something since they had talked about it before."

"Anyway," continued Tsunade, "it is their decisions. You are not to try to find them until they come back, is that clear? You are dismissed."

The boys silently left the room and soon after their senseis followed. No doubt were they going to be assaulted by their students looking for more answers. Only Gaara remained in the office, his eyes fixed on the Hokage.

"I knew Temari and Matsuri had not been themselves for the past few weeks; they always looked concerned, sad, or lost in thoughts," said Gaara, speaking for the first time since he entered the room. "But I never thought that they would leave without saying anything. I know you know why."

"I told you; they wanted to be stronger, not just in body but also in their mind and heart."

"How long?"

"Three years, maybe more. It is up to them."

"Is there anything that we can do?"

"Have faith in them and train to get stronger. Our enemy is getting stronger, we cannot let him win. When the girls come back, they will fight by our side once again, but until this day, we must do what we can without them."

"It will be hard."

"I know. We all know. But they do not. They need time to find the strength in their body and mind. Would you tell that to the boys?"

"I will."

With that the young Kazekage left the room. Tsunade sighed; it had gone better than she thought. It would be hard for the boys, but she knew that they would respect the girls' decisions. Still she will have the senseis guard the gates for some time just to make sure none of them disobey her orders.

It had been a month since the kunoichis left the village. During the trip, they had discovered that Hinata was indeed caring Naruto's child and, with the six of them being pregnant, were extremely careful and been traveling slower. Ino was in her 10th week, Tenten and Temari, their 8th, Matsuri and Sakura, their 6th, and Hinata her 5th. Soon enough they arrived at a small village in the south of Taki no Kuni where Tsunade's friend, Tokiko, was leaving. The village was rather big, although not enough to be called a city, so finding work would not be too hard. Furthermore, the forests and mountains surrounding the village were very good training grounds, they thought as they accompanied the old woman to their new house. She had prepared a place for the soon to be twelve of them to stay a little outside of the village. The house was an old manor that had been abandoned when the family left the village to go to the city. When Tokiko had heard of the situation from her longtime friend, she had immediately agreed to help and had renovated the manor. She knew it would provide the young women with the space they will need to both raise their children and train. She had also promised herself she would be here for them if they needed. 'And why not come back to Konoha when they do,' she added to herself as she looked at the young kunoichis.

Sakura looked around approvingly. While she had not known what to expect from the village and the house at first, she was more than satisfied now. The girls looked pleased too. It was a good place. Not as good as Konoha, but then again, nothing can beat home. But for now, she felt that this place could be their home away from home.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't hesitate to review!


	3. Four Years

Hello everyone! I would like to start by thanking KawaiiKatia, BlueFiction36, Stellabella96, Nejiten3, Subzerodx, Alex, noof altalei, and Kays3r for following this fanfic and/or reviewing. I am so glad to have so many people reading it! Just so you guys know, I should be updating every other week or so. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter too!

Chapter 3: Four years

Kakashi smiled as he looked at his three students sparring. The three of them were jounins now and Naruto and Sasuke had recently joined the Anbu. After recovering from the shock of the girls' departure, the remaining members of Konoha 12 as well as Gaara and Kankuro had been training with a new vigor, determined to get stronger and keep the villages safe until the kunoichis come back. 'It will soon be four years now, they are taking longer than expected,' he thought, looking sadly at the blooming Sakura trees. In a few weeks, it will be exactly four years that they left, April 19th. He knew all the boys, 'I can't really call them that anymore', he thought, 'with most of them being 22', knew it and it showed in their mood swings, like every year at the same period. His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of a breathless Konohamaru.

"Kakashi-sensei, you and your team are to report to the Hokage's office at this moment," said the boy between heavy breaths. "She said it was urgent."

Kakashi nodded, and signaled his team to follow him to the tower.

As they entered the tower, they met with Gai's and Kurenai's Teams who informed them that they had all been called by Tsunade and that Asuma's Team as well as Gaara and Kankuro were also on its way.

"Must be an important mission to call all fifteen of us here," said Naruto.

"Yeah, the whole of us have not been called together since…" started Kiba.

"Yeah, since that day," finished Naruto.

They entered the office with a silent sadness filling their mind after they were joined by Asuma's team and the sand ninjas. As they entered, they were greeted by Tsunade and an older woman they had never seen before. After all of them came in, Tsunade spoke:

"I will be brief; you have to leave as soon as possible. This is Tokiko, an old friend of mine who was leaving in Taki no Kuni until recently. She was on her way to Konoha with six young women and their children when they were attacked. Two of the children have been kidnapped. Tokiko escaped with the others while the women followed the attackers in order to get the children back."

"What are we to do?" asked Asuma.

"These young women are trained kunoichis, and good ones too, so normally there should not be much to worry about. However, there is a possibility that the place the children are being taken to is the attackers' headquarters, in which case they will be facing at least a hundred ninjas while protecting their children," explained Tokiko. "Backup would be much helpful."

"I take it they had been after you for a while," stated Kakashi.

"Indeed, they had been after us for a couple of years now," explained the old woman. "But, never had they managed to touch one of us, these girls made sure of that, and…"

A knock on the door interrupted her. She sighed. 'Enter, Misa-chan' she said. The door slowly opened revealing a little girl. She kept her eyes to the floor, her fingers nervously going through her short brown hair that was in a mess, like she had been running for her life. 'Which she most likely have,' thought Kurenai.

"What is it Misa-chan? Shouldn't you be with the other?" inquired Tokiko.

"Are they the ones going to help mama?" asked the child without raising her head.

"Yes, Misa-chan. They are very strong shinobis who will be going to help your mama and aunties."

"And bring Akari-chan and Keiko-chan back too?"

"Yes, they will."

"Promise it!" suddenly shouted the child, raising her head. Her teal eyes were tearful as she looked at them. "Promise that you will bring them back!"

"We promise."

Misa turned to the man who just spoke. Red hair and blue eyes, all dressed in red, leaning against the wall, from what she could see through her tears.

"Promise Promise?" she insisted looking at him.

"Of course we will bring them back!" exclaimed Naruto. "We are the strongest here, so just leave it to us! Right guys?!"

A chorus of 'of course', 'leave it to us', 'troublesome', and 'hn' answered him.

"The fifteen of you are to find both the kunoichis and the children and bring them back here at all costs," ordered the sannin. "If you can, bring these attackers alive for questioning. Asuma is in charge. Dismissed!"

The ninjas left in a cloud of smoke, getting ready for battle. Misa ran to Tokiko's arms.

"Are you sure it is wise to send them?" asked Tokiko patting the child's hair to calm her down.

"They are our best. Besides, if what you told me is true, they also are the ones with the less change to be killed on the spot," replied Tsunade. "They should recognize them."

"I am sure they will. I will go see the rest of them now, they feel very guilty."

"Guilty? They are three years old children; of course they are going to try to catch a running rabbit when they see one."

The shinobis tensed as Pakkun informed them that they were approaching the battle ground. Neji activated his Byakugan to locate the women and the two children.

"What do you see Neji?" asked his sensei.

"Many dead bodies," he replied frowning. "There seems to be about twenty people remaining in there."

"Any sight of the children?"

"No…" he started. "Wait, someone is leaving the area, east of us, caring what could be the children."

"Kurenai, Shino, and Kiba, intercept this person, should she be one of the women, escort her and the children to Konoha," instructed Asuma. "If not, capture the kidnapper, and bring them all to the village. The rest of us will be going inside."

The two groups separated. A few minutes later, Asuma's group arrived at the place. Just like Neji had said there were many dead bodies on the ground and battle sounds could be heard inside.

"Well, looks like the old woman was right, these girls sure can fight," remarked Kankuro.

"If they are this strong, they have most certainly noticed our presence. They don't know we are with them; proceed with caution," ordered Asuma. "We will be separating in two groups. Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Sai, Gaara-sama, and Neji, you enter north. The rest of us with me, we enter south."

They separated into the groups and entered the building. There were also many bodies inside. 'Definitely the work of ninjas,' thought Shikamaru. Suddenly a kunai flew in their direction and the shinobis immediately took cover. 'Identify yourself!' they heard someone shout from the other side of the corridor. Shikamaru tensed as he recognized the voice. 'That's impossible! I must be imagining it' thought the shadow manipulator. But a look at Choji and his sensei told him that they had recognized the voice too. The rest of the shinobis, sensing something was wrong, looked at Asuma for instruction, only to see him throw one of his blades in the general direction of the voice of a smile on his face. A 'thumb' told them that the blade has met the wall in front of them. A few seconds of silence ensued until Asuma broke it with a big smile:

"It's okay Ino. See, it's just us," he said.

The shinobis froze at the name. Could it really be one of their missing kunoichis? The old women had said that the women she was travelling with were trained ninjas but what were the chances that… Their thoughts were interrupted by a loud 'Long time no see Asuma-sensei' coming from a blond woman running down the hallway.

"Oi, Nara. Is that really…" started the puppet master.

"Yeah, it is," answered Choji instead of Shikamaru, who was still in shock, a thousand of thoughts running in his head.

Ino had not changed, Choji thought. Still the same long blond hair and blue eyes, still the same bright smile, still the same loud mouth. The only thing that has changed was her outfit. While it was still purple, she was now wearing a long sleeve T-shirt that showed her shoulders with a black corset and a purple knee skirt. She was hurt too, he noticed: several cuts on her legs and what seemed to be a serious cut on her arm. The blond turned to him with a grin and ran to hug him.

"Long time no see Choji! Have you been gaining weight again?" she exclaimed.

"Just a little to help with my technics," answered the shinobi.

"Well, you are gonna have to show me that later! By the way, what is Shikamaru doing?"

"I think he is lost in thoughts."

"How rude, he could at least say hi! Oi, Shikamaru, stop thinking for a minute!"

As the shinobi was not answering, the blond decided to jump on him causing the both of them to fall on the floor, effectively getting the genius away from his thoughts.

"Troublesome," he grumbled.

"I missed you too Shika-kun!"

The two ninjas got up and Ino greeted Gai-sensei, Lee, and Kankuro.

"By the way, what are you guys doing here?" asked the blond.

"We were sent by Tsunade-sama as backup," explained Asuma.

"Well, that's nice. So I take it that Tokiko and the children reached the village safely."

"Yes, they are fine."

The ninjas tensed at the mention of the children. Could it be that…

"That's good. Come on, I was supposed to meet Tenten near the…"

"OUR YOUTHFUL FLOWER IS HERE?" shouted Gai and Lee.

"Yes, she is. Right here actually," said a voice behind them.

"TENTEN!" cried the green men, rushing to embrace her.

"Long time no see Gai-sensei, Lee," said the brunette escaping their embrace in order not to aggravate her injuries. "Neji is here too?" she asked, looking nervously for her teammate.

"He is with the other group, entering north," clarified Asuma.

"They won't find anyone alive there, we already cleaned up the area," she stated while her teammates were crying in each other's arms, relieved that they had finally found their youthful flower. She still had a signature hair style but was now wearing a cream traditional Chinese dress with a black dragon design and black leggings.

Suddenly a scream of pain was heard from somewhere further inside the building, causing the shinobis to go back into battle mode.

"Sorry about that. That's probably Sakura," laughed Ino

"I guess she finally got her hand of the leader of this branch," replied Tenten. "I almost pity him."

"Really Panda-chan?" questioned the blond.

"The keyword here is almost, Blondie," retorted the weapon mistress.

"We are supposed to bring back some of them for questioning," interrupted Asuma.

"Don't worry sensei, she won't kill him. That would be waaaay too nice," smirked the mind manipulator.

"Wait, if Haruno-san is here, does it mean that Temari and Matsuri are here too," asked Kankuro.

"All of us are here; well expect Hinata that we sent to Konoha as soon as we got the children back," explained Tenten.

"Then she most likely met her old team. I sent them intercept someone leaving the area," said Asuma. "They were to bring them back to Konoha, but they might just be hugging her to death now!"

Another louder scream was heard.

"Should we stop her before she definitely breaks him?" asked Choji. "He might not be able to answer anything if that continues."

The two kunoichis sighed. While they knew he was right, they would have liked to prolong his suffering a little longer. After all, the bastard had dared touching their children. They sighed again as the pig released yet another scream.

"Yeah let's go," finally said Ino.

I hope you liked it! See you in two weeks!


	4. Long time no see!

I am very glad that so many people are following and reviewing this fanfiction! All my thanks to vash3055, randilynnbaby18, dragonsfae, Carola21, Stephehh, nejiten3, Uchiha Misaki, Hollowcapy, Azu-susi-chan, The dark side of the loonatics, xDancingWithTheWindx, rinnie21, AliceTheEvil-GoodBunny, LazyStudent, emosaku, Someone-more, Sakuraseeker2792, . .you, and noof altalei! I hope you will continue enjoying this fanfiction. And yes, I will update every two weeks or so, I am starting my senior year of college and I will have plenty of senior projects, seminars, exams, plus finding a job. I am sorry I cannot update sooner than that, but I want to try and kept the time between updates consistent and I have to take into account everything else I will have to do. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4: Long time no see!

The shinobis tensed as they heard a second scream. They had yet to encounter anyone, whoever arrived before them had cleaned the area thoughtfully, but they could still hear sounds of battle from further inside the building.

"Neji, can you locate where the screams came from?" asked Kakashi.

"I see several groups of people," replied Neji. "One east of us, five peoples that seems to be fighting, one further east, someone is running toward the group of five with three people after him or her, one just west of us, two people, it might be where the screams came from... And it looks like that Asuma-sensei found two of the women."

"I hate when the buildings are built to cut communication devices," grumble the silver hair man. "The group of two is the closest to here right? Sai, go take care of that, it should not take long. The rest of us will go see the other groups."

* * *

Sai ran through the hallways following the screams. 'One of the kunoichis must have got him good' he thought 'He might be a leader for her to be this malicious to him; I better hurry before she kills him.' As he was entering the room, he saw two kunais flying in his direction, which he swiftly deviated. However, he did not notice the third kunai entering his shoulder as his attention was focused on the woman who had thrown them. Pink hair and green eyes. Impossible.

"Ugly," he said, disbelieving his own eyes.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING UGLY!" shouted the woman, throwing a couple of kunais at him just for the hell of it.

This time he dodged them but his eyes never left her. He had been sad that she left, not as much as Naruto or even Sasuke, although he tried to hide it, but still. She had changed, he decided. Her hair was long now, as long as when she was young from what he had seen on pictures. Her outfit had changed too: a simple light pink kimono top with a green obi and green knee length pants. But her outburst told him that inside she was still the Ugly he knew.

"What are you doing here Ugly?" asked.

"What do you think? I am teaching this guy a lesson!" she exclaimed pointing at the man behind her.

He was in a bad shape, which did explain the screams they heard.

"And you?" asked the kunoichi.

"We were sent by Tsunade-sama to help rescue six kunoichis and two children who might be fighting over a hundred ninjas."

"There were hardly a hundred people here, I would say about fifty or so. We already sent Akari-chan and Keiko-chan back to Konoha with Hinata."

"We also are to bring some of the attackers back for questioning."

"Take this one; he is the leader of this branch. Who else is here?"

"We are all here."

"What do you mean 'all'?" she asked suddenly pale.

"Kurenai-sensei, Inuzuka, and Aburame left the group a little before arriving here, they must have intercepted Hinata-san. Asuma-sensei, Gai-sensei, Lee, Akimichi, Nara, and Kankuro went south; Hyuuga said that they had met two of the Kunoichis…"

"Probably Ino and Tenten."

"Then I separated from the other group to investigate on the screaming. Kakashi-sensei, Dickless, Uchiha, Hyuuga, and the Kazekage went to help in the two last groups fighting."

Sai noticed she was considerably paler now. He wondered if it had something to do with her injuries: scratches on her face and legs and a deep cut on her stomach that she seemed to have healed. But soon enough she snapped out of it, like she had remember something important. He briefly pondered if she had any connection to the children the old woman mentioned before quickly dismissing the thought. It was Ugly they were talking about. He quickly called a few of his painting to guard the man, not that he would be able to go anywhere the state he was in, and followed the ex-teammate as she rushed outside of the room.

* * *

'WHO ARE YOU CALLING UGLY?' The scream resonated all the way to Temari as she was finishing off one of the four shinobis she was fighting. She briefly wondered who was the unfortunate soul that would soon be receiving the wrath of an angry Sakura, before focusing on her opponents. It would normally not take long but she had been hurt during the battle, a kunai in her leg and several large cuts on her arms. She was preparing her next attack when she felt a familiar presence coming her way. It distracted her long enough for one of her assailants to get behind her and try to stab her. He never got to finish his move as sand suddenly surrounded him and soon crushed him to death. Temari slowly turned her head to where the sand was coming from, both happy and anxious to see the person standing in the doorway.

"Gaara," she whispered as her brother and Neji Hyuuga jumped next to her, prepared for battle.

A few minutes later, the fight was over, the three remaining enemies defeated, and silence fell on the group, each lost in their own thoughts. Gaara was staring at his sister, taking in the fact that she was indeed here. She had not changed much, her hair was still in her usual four tails, but she was now wearing a sand colored kimono instead of black with a forest green obi. She looked fine, beside the few injuries that were not life-threatening, but kept looking nervously at him. It was not like her, he frowned. Had he done something? Did it have something to do with the reason of her departure? Was it about the …. children? As much as he did not really want to think about it, it was a possibility. And Matsuri? Was she here too? He decided to let her speak first.

Temari was nervous, she wanted to say something; she was happy to see her brother but at the same time did not understand what he was doing here. And if Neji Hyuuga was here, did it mean that Shikamaru too was… She interrupted her thoughts and turned to the Kazekage.

"It has been as long time Gaara," she started. "How have you been?"

"Good," answered the sand shinobi. "And you?"

"Busy as of late, especially with these idiots attacking us more and more often. How is the village? I am surprised to see you here."

"The village is good. I split my time between Suna and Konoha to reinforce our relationship."

"That's great news," she exclaimed. "So what are you doing here exactly?"

"The Hokage sent us on a rescue mission. She said there might be more than a hundred ninjas."

"This place is apparently not their headquarters, just a branch. Nothing we could not handle, but thanks for coming."

"It's normal."

Neji looked at the siblings quietly. He wanted to ask if Tenten and Hinata were here too, but did not know how. It had been so long, they might not be traveling together anymore. Suddenly, Temari turned toward the door, her hand on her fan. She could feel Sakura coming her way but she was followed by an unfamiliar chakra.

"Do you know one of them?" Asked Neji, his Byakugan activated.

"Yes, the one running head."

"We know the one following this person. It is Sai, from Team 7."

She remembered him now. She had not met him very often, just enough to know that he was in Sakura's team and that he kept calling her … Ugly. That did exclaim the shout from earlier.

"The first one is Sakura Haruno."

Both shinobis nodded. The presence had felt familiar, but they could not be sure. The three ninjas waited for the two to join them and a few seconds later, the cherry blossom and the painter appeared in the room. Sakura let out a small smile as she recognized the two shinobis with Temari.

"It has been a long time, Neji-san, Kazekage-sama," she said bowing slightly.

Both of them returned her greetings and she asked Temari to sit down while she took care of her leg.

"So what is the situation?" asked the sand kunoichi.

"Well, from what the idiot over here told me, the group headed by Asuma found Ino and Tenten, Kurenai's team should have joined Hinata and the kids and brought them back to Konoha, and since I don't see Naruto, Kakashi-sensei and Sasuke here, I'm guessing they are taking care of the ninjas Matsuri was fighting," explained the medic.

The three shinobis tensed at the mentioned of the names. They were indeed all here and apparently indeed the ones they were supposed to be rescuing. The women traveling with their children.

"That's good. What now?" continued the wind mistress.

"We meet up and head to Konoha. We have what we were looking for," answered the pink hair ninja. "Sai has sent a painting to Asuma to set the meeting place at the South entrance. We will just need to pick Matsuri up and go."

"Sounds good to me! Which direction?"

The four ninjas looked at the Hyuuga prodigy who started running down a hallway and followed him.

* * *

Matsuri was running, trying to find a bigger space where she could use her weapon to its maximum potential. She tensed as she felt three more presences catching up with her assailants. She was however surprised to hear battle sounds and screams from behind her. She turned around and cautiously went back to see what was happening. Her attackers laid defeated on the ground and three shinobis were standing in their place. They looked familiar to the young sand ninja, especially the blond one, but she could only see their back. The black hair shinobi abruptly turned and threw a kunai in her direction. She dodged it but smiled as she got a good look at their face: she indeed knew them!

"It has been too long Naruto-san, Kakashi-san, Uchiha-san," she said smiling.

The three shinobis looked at the woman who just greeted them. 'She looks familiar', thought Naruto, 'I am sure I have already meet her.' Suddenly he remembered. They had met several times and he had seen a picture of her on Gaara's desk. She looked older now with her longer brown hair and her new outfit, a light brown shirt with a red jacket, red belt and light brown pants, but it was definitely her!

"Hey! Long time no see Matsuri!' exclaimed the leaf shinobi.

The two other ninjas tensed at the name. Matsuri was one of the kunoichis that had left four years earlier! What was she doing here? And where were the others? Their thoughts were interrupted when they felt five familiar presences running in their direction, including a very very familiar one they had not felt in years.

* * *

So, what do you guys think? Let me know!


	5. Back at last

Hi! I am glad you liked last chapter! Many thanks to Kays3r, keisa102091, ScarletThePanda, Azu-susi-chan, MyGuiltyPleasure585,Uchiha Misaki, Mizuki-chan Uchiha, Rica Azmaria, sakuraseeker2792, and Animeblackberry21for following and reviewing. Here is, at last, the reunion. And Hinata, that we had not seen last chapters. There is a couple of things going on in this chapter that will be explained later, so it might not be quite what you expected, especially the SasuSaku reunion. I am… torturing them. Hope you still like it!

Chapter 5: Back at last

Sasuke was getting tenser and tenser as the presence approached, a thousand thoughts running through his head. It was her. He knew it was her. But why was she here? He stopped thinking when she finally entered his vision field, his onyx eyes observing her small frame. He hardly took notice of Naruto jumping on her and hugging her crying. He did not react when his sensei greeted her with a pat on the shoulder. He just stared at her, taking her presence in, coming back to his sense only when she was right in front of him, her emerald eyes shining as she smiled fondly. 'Long time no see, Sasuke-kun' he heard her said. He wanted to hug her, to tell her never to leave again, to… but he could not. He did not have the right to, not after what he had done. So, he settled for his usual 'hn'. He saw her bright smile turn into melancholy before she got back to the group to try to get Naruto to stop crying. He noted that Hyuuga was tensed and discreetly looking around, like he was expecting something. 'Or someone' he thought knowingly. He also briefly took notice of the woman they had just helped and the Kazekage talking a little further down the hallway before focusing back on his cherry blossom.

Gaara could feel her from the other side of the hallway as they ran toward the other group. The kunoichis had said that she was here, but to actually feel her presence strangely made it easier for him to breath. As they approached the group, he spotted her speaking to Naruto until she saw him, her face breaking into a huge smile. At least she seemed happy to see him. She quickly left Naruto, who had already jumped on the medic ninja, and ran to him. Just having her by his side again relaxed him more than he had been in the last four years. 'This is how it should be' thought the sand shinobi as she reached him. She looked like she was going to say something but unexpectedly stopped, like she just remembered something, before losing her smile. Gaara frowned, why had she stopped smiling? He noticed her looking at his left hand sadly before having a surprised look on her face that then turned to confused, happy, before turning back to a small, sad, smile. 'It is still so easy to read her' he thought. This time he decided to speak first.

"How are you?" he asked, gesturing for the long cut on her shoulder.

"I am fine, thank you Gaara-sama. I will just ask Sakura to take look at it before we leave. What are you doing here Gaara-sama?"

"Rescuing you and the other kunoichis."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for your hard work."

"Not really, you have done most of the work."

'It did not sound natural', he thought, 'just like her smile.' He was going to ask what was wrong when he was interrupted by Sakura who demanded to see Matsuri about her injuries. As soon as she was done, Kakashi leaded the group to the south exit to meet with the other ninjas, preventing him for questioning her.

* * *

As they arrived at the south gate, Neji immediately looked for the lost kunoichi of his team. Unsurprisingly, he spotted his green teammates first. He briefly took notice of Kankuro rushing to his sister and villagemate and Sakura greeting Asuma-sensei before heading to his team. They were talking animatedly to her and she was laughing at whatever they were saying. He frowned when he sensed her tense as he approached before she relaxed and turned to him with a smile.

"Hey!" greeted the weapon mistress.

"Hi," he replied.

"So, I heard you got in Anbu! Congrats!"

"Thank you."

A silence fell on the two.

"How have you been?" asked the Hyuuga prodigy. He was surprised to hear her laugh.

"I'm sorry, but that has to be the first I hear you say that to anyone," she explained.

"You have disappeared for four years, Tenten. I… We were worried," he snapped.

Her laugh abruptly stopped, replaced by a sad smile.

"I know. Sorry about that. But we really needed it. We are fine though. And we are back to stay!"

'I will see to that' thought the young shinobi. He was going to start his questioning when he noticed she was looking at Temari and Shikamaru with a small knowing smile and wait until he finally got her home.

Shikamaru was lying on the grass near the south exit trying to focus on the clouds and ignore the loud chatting behind him. After receiving the message from Sai, they had gone to the room, retrieved the unconscious man, and headed to the meeting place. They had been waiting for the other team for fifteen minutes now and the rest of them had decided to catch up. To be exact, the shinobis were telling stories while the kunoichis listened and commented; he had noticed that the girls had yet to say anything about their four years away. After a few more minutes, he could feel Kakashi's team approaching. 'Including Temari' he thought tensing. He did not know what to do; things had been a little bit awkward after that night, they had not really talked about it and he highly doubted she would want to talk to him ever again. It was his fault after all. Still, no one could really blame him for losing control after hearing from the girl he loved that he was too lazy to please a woman... right? The genius decided to pretend to sleep and let her act first. If she woke him up and talk to him, that meant he could talk to her… Emphasize on talk … Unless she initiated anything else ... If not, it meant she did not what to have anything to do with him and he would leave her alone… as much as he was able to. He tensed further as he felt her approach, but soon relaxed as he heard her call for him: 'Wake up, lazy bum!' He lazily opened his eyes to find her looking down at him with a smirk, unknowingly giving him a nice view of her cleavage as her kimono had gotten lose during the battle. That damn woman was not making it easy for him.

"Troublesome," he replied turning his back to her to hide his smile.

"Come on, we are heading back to Konoha!"

* * *

Kiba was sitting in front of the one of the hospital's room waiting for Tsunade-sama to finish examining the children. To say that they had been surprised to see Hinata in the forest was an understatement but at the time they had been busy with escorting her and the children to the village as fast as possible. Now that they were being taken of, he took some time to examine his teammate. Physically she had not changed much. She now had her long hair in a large braid and was wearing a light purple tunic with a short navy blue jacket and navy blue knee length pants. But what surprised him was her change in behavior. In the forest, after recovering from the surprise, she insisted on immediately going back to Konoha, hardly greeting them. She had also been very tense during the trip, not letting them help her with carrying the children that she had kept hidden from them, draping them in two large blankets. Kiba let go of his thoughts as he sensed her sitting next to him.

"I apologize for the way I acted in the forest," she started. "I was very afraid that they had done something to them and I really wanted to get to Tsunade-sama as fast as possible. I am sorry I was so mean to everyone."

'That explains her behavior back then' thought the shinobi, happy that his old teammate was back.

"No problem! We were just a little surprised to see you there! How about we start again?"

"Alright, then. It has been a long time Kiba. How have you been?"

"I was thinking more something along the line of a hug, but that's how I know you are back!"

Hinata laughed and Kiba let out a smirk before turning serious.

"Hinata, were the other girls with you in there?"

"Yes, all six of us."

"Ino too?"

"Yes, she was supposed to come with me, but we had much more assailants following us than we thought, so she stayed behind."

"Will she be okay? I mean she is strong and everything, but Tsunade-sama said that there could be hundreds of ninjas in there," panicked the shinobi.

"There were not a hundred people in that building, and yes, I am positive Ino will be alright."

"Ok, if you say so."

Hinata smiled at him as he asked specifically about Ino, not Sakura or Tenten. Ino may have a chance after all. She turned to the door and rushed to Tsunade as she was exiting the examination room.

"Both of them are fine. The sleeping drugs they gave them will keep them out until tomorrow, but there will be no aftereffect."

Hinata sighed, relaxing.

"The whole of us will be heading to my office while we wait for the others to arrive," continued Tsunade. "I have asked Shizune to prepare one of the suites for you guys until we find you a place to stay. The other kids are already there and I will ask Tokiko to bring these two."

The sannin could tell that Hinata was not happy about leaving the children, but they both knew it was for the best. There were many things to take care of, including telling their teams about the little ones and it was better to do it as soon as possible.

* * *

The trip back to Konoha had been quiet. The girls were in hurry, the shinobis had noticed. A few hours after leaving the base, they arrived at the gate. The tension relaxed a little as smiles appeared on the kunoichis' faces but quickly came back as they approached the Hokage tower. Arriving in front of the office door, Sakura stopped for a few second before taking a deep breath, knocking on the door, and entering. As everyone entered the office, the tension got worst as the kunoichis waited for the sannin to tell them how the children were. Tsunade looked at the five of them sternly, inwardly happy to see them all safe again, until she released a smile and nodded at Sakura. Instantly, the tension disappeared and the kunoichis could breathe again. Smiles appeared on their faces as they could finally greet everyone without fearing the worst.

Naruto took advantage of the much more joyful atmosphere to examine Hinata. She was even more beautiful than before she left, he thought. He wondered if she still blushed easily. He loved the way she would blush all the time, it was so cute! 'Only one way to know,' he thought with an evil smirk. He silently approached her from behind and suddenly hugged her with a loud 'Hinata-chan!' She let out a small squeal before realizing it was him and turning deep red. 'Yup, that's my Hinata-chan alright' he thought as he buried his face in her neck.

"Naruto-kun… Could you let go?" asked Hinata.

"Nope," replied the shinobi grinning.

"No? Why?"

"Because I missed you! And because if I let you go, you are gonna disappear again!"

Hinata let out of small laugh. As embarrassed as she was right now, she could not help to be happy.

"Don't worry Naruto, none of us is disappearing anymore."

"Promise it?" asked Naruto, suddenly turning serious.

"What?"

"Promise me you are not going anywhere," he demanded, holding her closer to him.

"I promise Naruto," answered the blue hair kunoichi with a small smile.

On the other side of the room, Kiba too had been staring at a girl. Ino. She was currently talking with his sensei, probably about her relationship with Asuma-sensei if her sly smile was anything to go by. The dog master smiled. She had not changed. Well, she physically had, it was getting harder not to stare at her delicious-looking body, but her behavior had not. She was still the same girl he fell in love with. 'The same girl who will not talk to me' he reminded himself, 'and I still don't know why.' He knew she knew he was looking at her, and yet would not acknowledge him. 'I need to talk to her,' he thought, 'it cannot continue like this anymore.'

After letting ninjas to themselves for a few minutes, Tsunade cleared her throat, attracting everyone's attention.

"I know that you have a lot to say to each other, but let's start with the most important. Welcome home girls," said fondly Tsunade.

"We are back!" replied joyfully Sakura, the other kunoichis smiling behind her.

So, what did you think? I know I am very mean to Sasuke, but all will be explained later… See you next chapter!


	6. Familly discussion

Hello everyone! First I would like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed after reading the last chapter: Guest, TwoWorldsOneD, kelpiejh, nejiten3, Uchiha Misaki, KHautumn21597, Guest, Faith Hathaway, forty-5, EmberChance, Aranel frost, sakuraseeker2792, EmberLee31, and kyucloud1995. I was worried that you guys might be disappointed about the reunion and what I am doing to SasuSaku. So I am very glad that people still liked. Well, enough chatting, and please enjoy the next chapter!

Chapter 6: Family discussion

"_I know that you have a lot to say to each other, but let's start with the most important. Welcome home girls," said fondly Tsunade._

"_We are back!" replied joyfully Sakura, the other kunoichis smiling behind her._

Silence fell once again the room. Now that the boys had finally reunited with their kunoichis and made sure they were not disappearing anywhere anytime soon, the next question was: 'what was it we heard about children?' Everyone in the room was trying to think of a way to bring the topic without being awkward. It is in this thoughts-full silence that Tokiko entered the office, attracting everyone's attention.

"Am I disturbing something?" asked the old woman.

"Not at all," answered Tsunade, suddenly finding a decent way to introduce the delicate topic. "How are they?"

"Quite well considering the day they had. I just put them to sleep."

"That easily?" interjected Ino. "Usually they at least insist that we come to say good night, especially after an attack."

"They understood that the situation was complicated and that you would not be able to see them right at the moment."

"Still, that is unlike them," frowned Tenten. "Were they not worried at all? Last time…"

"I know, but last time was different," interrupted Tokiko. "They have been very worried and feeling very guilty, but they calmed down after Hinata-chan brought Akari-chan and Keiko-chan back. And Misa-chan has been of a great help to ease the rest of their worries."

"Misa? How so?" inquired Matsuri.

"Wait, isn't Misa-chan the one we saw before we left?" said Naruto. "She came here and made us promise that we would bring her 'mama and aunties' back."

"Indeed," continued Tokiko. "She was positive that 'mister red ninja' would bring everybody back. She was so confident that it calmed the rest of them and they agree to let it go, 'only this time' they did say."

"Really? I can hardly believe it," said Masturi.

"What? That we would promise her or that we would keep our words," interjected Gaara, slightly disappointed by her lack of faith in them.

Matsuri looked at him for a few seconds and let out of small laugh.

"None of that, Gaara-sama. I actually think it is very much like you to make such promises, and I know for a fact that you always keep your words. What surprises me is that Misa came here. I would have expected that from Takeshi-kun, but Misa is quite shy and if she has the choice between talking and leaving to talking to someone else, she will stay quiet. Especially with people she doesn't know."

"You seem to know her quite well," remarked Kurenai.

"I would," answered the sand ninja. "She is my daughter after all."

Silence filled the room once more. Kankuro glanced discreetly at his brother to see how he was taking the news. To anyone else, he would have seemed unaffected but Kankuro knew better. He was confused and sad. 'I would be to. But we don't know anything about the father yet. Maybe he still has a chance.' he thought as he gently patted his brother's back in a gesture of comfort.

"So when Tokiko-san said she was traveling with six kunoichis and their children," started Kakashi.

"She meant the six of us here and our six children," finished Sakura.

Yet another silence fell as the boys wrapped their mind around the idea that their teammates, their almost sisters, and for some the women they loved, had children.

"Okay, I know I am going to sound stupid but… how did that happen?" cut Kiba staring at Ino, confusion and hurt written all over his face.

"The same way it has happened for ages and the same way it will continue to happen for ages," snapped Ino, talking to him for the first time. "However, if you are talking about the situation that led us to have these children, we would rather not talk about it, and yes, that includes the fathers."

"Why? Did they hurt you?" demanded Naruto, his face turning from plain shock to burning anger as he looked at Hinata and Sakura.

"What? Heavens, no!" exclaimed Sakura. "You should know that we are more than capable of protecting ourselves Naruto."

Sasuke frown at the comment. If it was true, then why did she... He stopped his thoughts as he felt the guilt assaulting his mind and focused on the fact that SHE had a CHILD. Not that he never imagined her with a child, he actually did it more than he should as his guilt-full mind often reminded him, but it was HIS child then, not some stranger's. His brooding was interrupted when Sai stepped on his foot in an attempt to bring him back in the discussion. As he was regaining his mind, he glanced at Neji. The two of them had gotten quite close over the years, often training and doing Anbu missions together. He knew how he felt for the weapon mistress and a short scan confirmed that the Hyuuga was taking the news as badly as he was. He also briefly noticed Choji trying to discreetly hide ghost-pale Shikamaru before reporting his attention back to the kunoichis, who seemed completely oblivious to the whole ordeal.

"Can we at least know why you don't want to talk about them?" asked Asuma.

The girls exchanged looks for a few seconds before Sakura spoke:

"For our protection and that of our children, that's all we will say."

"Is that why you have been attacked?" stated Kakashi. "Who are we fighting against?"

"To be more precise, we believe that Hinata's daughter is the main target. But all of them could be targeted too."

"Why Hinata's?" inquired Neji.

"Because of the Byakugan," quickly answered the kunoichi.

"I see," said Tsunade. "Let the village take care of that. You will be safe here. Also Ino and Hinata, you will have to tell your parents about them, especially you Hinata. I have already sent Shizune get them."

"Shishou, I don't think that's a good idea," hastily said Sakura as Hinata froze behind her. "You know that…"

"I know," interrupted Tsunade. "But by law, he has the right to know and to visit, especially since he would be more capable of providing for the child."

"With all due respect Tsunade-sama," cut Tenten, "We are all more than able to care take of them, financially included."

"I know that's why…" began the sannin, before being interrupted by a knock on the door. "Enter!"

The door opened letting Shizune, Inoichi and Suzuki Yamanaka, and Hiashi Hyuuga inside. Inoichi and Suzuki rushed to their daughter's side and hugged her, happy that she was finally back.

"So did I hear correctly when I heard about a grandchild?" asked Suzuki.

"Yes, Kaa-chan, you did," answered Ino. "But no questions about the father please, it is complicated."

Inoichi sighed.

"What's going on Tou-chan? Are you not happy to have a grandchild?" asked the young kunoichi nervously.

"I'm glad that you are back, Ino," Inoichi answered. "And the fact that you have a child is happy news too. However, I was looking forward to perpetuate the ancestral tradition that says that a dad is to beat the hell out of the father of his daughter's child, but it seems that I won't be able to. By the way, is it a boy or a girl?"

"You will be pleased to know, my dear Otou-san, that you are not the only male in the family anymore," smiled slyly the young woman.

Inoichi let out a small cry of joy.

Suddenly everyone's attention was attracted to the other side of the room, where Hinata and her father were arguing.

"Don't be ridiculous Hinata. You could not possibly…"

"She is what is most precious to me," shouted the young kunoichi angrily, "and I will protect her with everything I have. Especially against you and even if that means losing my name! I will not let you put her through what I have been through!"

'Strong of body and mind,' thought Hiashi, letting out a small smile. "It looks like you were right Tsunade-sama. As for you Hinata, you should have let the Hokage finish before jumping into conclusion."

"What do you mean?"

"Like I was going to say, continued Tsunade, "the law does give him rights but due to the circumstances and your … family history, you will be setting the conditions and the limits. I will personally back them up. Breaking them will mean breaking the law."

"You mean that…"

"It is just like I said Hinata. You decide."

Hinata stood silent for a few seconds before looking back at the Hokage.

"She is not going anywhere near that mansion," she stated.

"Agreed."

"I set when, where, and who she will be meeting. And she will always be with either me or someone I trust."

"Granted."

"And if I hear any of the crap Neji and I were being fed with when we were kids, it's over," she said turning to face her father. "You will never see her again."

"Is that understood Hiashi?" asked the Hokage.

"Yes," he answered

"Anything else Hinata?"

"No."

"Good, it is decided then," concluded the sannin.

Silence ensued for a few seconds as the boys registered that Hinata had been actually yelling, at her father and without stuttering, before Naruto broke it loudly.

"We should have a party!" the blond shouted.

"What for?" asked Sakura.

"A welcome home party for you guys of course!" he exclaimed. "Well, maybe it is not home for Temari and Matsuri, but it can be a welcome back party. We could invite everybody! Oh we could introduce ourselves to your kids! And actually meet them too, because we have only met Misa-chan!"

"That's a good idea," said the cherry blossom. "But you know, they already know who you guys are."

"Really?"

"Of course! Did you really think we would not talk to them about you guys!? They are very young so they might not remember exactly, but they know you," interrupted Ino.

"How old are they?" asked Kurenai.

"Three years old," answered Hinata. "A little young to remember so many names correctly."

"That sounds good," said the sannin. "How about we do this in two days? It will give the girls time to settle down and give us time to prepare. Should we do a lunch or a diner?"

"How about a picnic?" suggested Tokiko. "Back in Taki, we used to picnic at least once a week for lunch near a waterfall not far from the village."

"We don't have waterfalls here, but maybe we could do it near the river?" proposed Kakashi.

"But that will be at least forty people," said Matsuri. "Will that really be okay?"

"No problem," answered Suzuki. "You girls relax and let us take care of it."

"Suzuki is right," continued Tsunade. "You girls can go and rest; it has been a long day. Don't hesitate if you need help with anything. All of you are dismissed."

They soon all disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Tsunade sighed. It had gone quite well. She knew the boys wanted to know more about the kids and had seen how bad some had been hurt by the news, but understood why the girls kept the whole father-thing secret. 'They have time' she smiled 'Still, I can't wait for the party and see how the meeting goes!'

So? What do you think? Next chapter, I will finally introduce all the children. Some clues have been given in previous chapters, but the next chapter will be focusing on getting to know the little ones better. See you in two weeks!


	7. Little ones

Hi, everyone! I am super excited to present you the children all last! And give you the thoughts of the girls too! But first, thank you to NARUHINASASUSAKULOVERS11, Allytsuki, Aliasin, weirdfool501, Mei fa-chan, GillyMoose, MistaBiggle, and nejiten3 for reviewing and following this story. Now, without any more delay… the children!

Chapter 7: Little ones

A small shadow ran silently through the corridor, her long black hair in pigtails floating behind her, until she reached a door. The small figure narrowed her eyes, trying to sense who was inside the room without opening it, like she had seen her mother do it several times. It felt familiar, she decided, but not who she was looking for. She continued to the next doors until a large smile broke on her face.

"Found you Kaa-chan!" she shouted as she rushed inside the room and jumped on the bed her mother was laying on.

Hinata opened a tired eye as the little girl continued to jump around her before siting up and smile at her daughter's antics.

"Good morning Keiko." she greeted.

"Good morning Kaa-chan." answered the girl "Nee, Kaa-chan, where are we? Tokiko-baachan says we are in Konoha, but I don't remember seeing the gate you told us about! Is it really Konoha?"

"Yes, Sweetheart. We arrived last night, but you were sleeping."

"But I wanted to see the big gate!"

"We can go see it later, if you want."

"Really! Thank you Kaa-chan!" exclaimed Keiko.

Hinata smiled as she got up. Keiko reminded her so much of Naruto, a bundle of energy that made everyone smile, although she did make sure to teach her good manners. Her small pearl eyes shined as she told her mother how she found her, and her hair… Hinata suddenly rushed to her daughter's side, her hands roaming through the young one's hair. The kunoichi paled. Her hair had grown and blond could be seen from under the black coloring.

"Keiko, will you get Tokiko-san please? We need to color your hair." asked Hinato.

"Again? Why can I let my hair blond like before? I liked it better." pouted the child.

"We have already talked about it. While we are here, you need to have your hair black. Don't you want to have black hair like Kaa-san?"

"I do!" exclaimed Keiko before running out of the room to get her 'grand-mother.'

Hinata sighed. She felt bad for doing it too. She loved her daughter's blond hair, but if anyone here saw it, it would not take long to figure out who her father is, or at least raise suspicion, and that was not something she could afford, for her sake, that of her daughter, and the other kunoichis'… Seeing everyone again had felt both weird and great. She had been thrilled to hear that Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei had a second child. Seeing her team had been great too. And seeing him… A heavy blush found its way to her face as she remembered how Naruto had held her and made her promise not to leave again. The young woman sighed again; even after four years of not seeing him, she had not lost her feelings for her blond ninja. She put back her smile as Keiko and Tokiko entered.

* * *

Matsuri entered the kitchen of their suite carrying a sleepy Misa. The child had crawled in her bed after she came back, muttering something about a 'mister red ninja', and stayed with her for the night. She spotted Temari preparing tea and her son already eating breakfast. Temari smile as she greeted them.

"Good morning you two. Did you sleep well?"

"Good morning Temari. It was the most confortable night I had in a while." answered the younger woman. "Good morning Daichi-kun."

The young boy raised his head from his breakfast, his long dark blond hair falling on his shoulders and his forest green eyes looking at them in an indifferent expression.

"Good morning" he answered quickly before going back to eating his breakfast.

Matsuri let out a small laugh as Temari rolled her eyes. The brown haired kunoichi sat her daughter on a chair before preparing her breakfast.

"Where is everybody else?" she asked.

"Hinata and Tokiko are coloring Keiko's hair, Ino, Takeshi, and Shinji are still sleeping, Tenten is designing a new weapon, Akari is in the living-room reading, and Sakura left earlier to start looking for a house."

"A house already?"

"Her old house has been destroyed during an attack a couple of years ago apparently. And she is looking for a house for can fit all twelve of us until … we make our decision."

Matsuri let out a small sigh. Temari and she will have to decide quickly. Suna or Konoha? Before leaving Taki, she had set her mind. She loved Konoha and the kunoichis but Suna was home. It had always been where she wanted to raise Misa. But seeing Gaara again made her doubt it was the right thing to do. What if someone noticed the resemblance between the two? Teal eyes were not exactly common. And everyone knew of her feelings for him, feelings that were still here, even after all this time. She had been confused, and very glad, not to see a wedding band on his finger. What if coming back affected Gaara? And what if that affected Misa too? If she was discovered, she might be taken away and put in the hands of those stupid elders! Maybe it was better for the both of them if she stayed here, but could she bare it? Could she really bare separate from her home, and him, again? She looked up to Temari who was now sitting near her son, a cup of tea set in front of her, playing with her son's hair. She felt bad for the older woman; the decision she had to make was much more difficult.

Temari smiled at the annoyed expression of her son as he pull his hair up in a high ponytail before she reached for the hair band and let the hair fall on his shoulder again.

"Kaa-san, why can't I let my hair up? It never bothered you before." asked the young boy.

"I like it down." she simply answered.

That was not a lie, she had always liked when Shikamaru let his hair down, which unfortunately did not happen very often. But that was not why she did not let her son put his hair up. She was very lucky that he got his most noticeable physical appearance from her. And while his lazy behavior could betray her, it was not as bad as her crybaby's, so she could somewhat 'explain' it. But the resemblance with his father was just too much when he put his hair up. She knew it was partially her fault since she had been the one to fix his hair like that to begin with, but now it was too dangerous... The older woman took her son and sat him on her laps, hugging him. She needed to decide whether to stay in Konoha or to leave… She knew that leaving was the best solution, it would reduce greatly the chances of being discovered, the relationship between Suna and Konoha would not be altered, it would protect Daichi and Shikamaru, Misa would not be lonely, since she was pretty sure that Matsuri would go back, and it would be strange for her to insist on staying without a good reason, one she would not be able to give. But she could not bring herself to leave. She loved Suna, but she loved Konoha. She loved Gaara and Kankuro, but she loved Shikamaru. And she hated the thought of lying to everyone… She sighed, she would have to make a decision soon.

Daichi looked at his mother, she was often lost in thought recently, losing her confident personality, and he did not like that. He knew that something was going on and that made his mother sad. And these people that tried to take them away… 'Troublesome' he thought 'I will have to talk to the others about it.'

* * *

Shinji looked around the unfamiliar room. He could feel his mother's presence in the next room and decided to join her. He quickly dressed up, putting his long brown hair in a low ponytail before reaching for his contact lenses with a small sigh. His mother had insisted on making him wear brown-colored contacts while in Konoha, saying that it was for his protection, just like his cousin Keiko had to color her hair. He put one contact on and looked in the mirror. A pearl and brown eyed boy faced him. He liked the pearl better and so did his mother as she had told him many times before. So why the sudden change? Was it because they were in Konoha? Shinji had noticed that his mother and aunts had changed since they started talking about 'coming back.' They were worried and concerned. He did not like it. At all. Whatever was bothering his mother had to go away. He decided to talk to Akari and Daichi about it later.

Tenten had felt her son awaken and waited for him to find her. While all of the children were bright and strong for their age, Shinji, Daichi, and Akari were the brightest of them. She knew that it would not take them long to figure out why she made Shinji wear colored contacts. Unlike Keiko whose hair color could be 'explained', Shinji's Hyuuga eyes were a lot harder to cover up. If anyone ever saw his eyes, they would immediately link him to the Hyuuga family. The weapon mistress sighed. She had condemned her son to hide forever… But she knew she would not have the same protection from the Hokage as Hinata and feared what would happen to her son if he was discovered. And to Neji... It had felt great seeing him again. She was tense but so glad at the same time. She had been surprised at first by his tone when he talked about her disappearance. She had forgotten how over-protective and possessive he could be. That was something Shinji inherited along with the Byakugan. She heard the door open and her son's footsteps on the tatami.

"Good morning, Okaa-san" greeted the young boy, a small fond smile on his face.

"Good morning, Shinji" answered the young woman. "Did you already have breakfast?"

"Not yet."

"Just give me a minute and I will go with you." she said as she felt Shinji coming closer to look at what she was working on.

"What is it Okaa-san?"

"A training weapon for you. You will soon be old enough to start training, so I am making you a weapon. What do you think?"

"It looks great Okaa-san."

With all the Hyuuga traits that her son had, Tenten was very proud that he took interest in weapons. She knew he would be a great ninja one day. 'They will all be' she thought as she drew some more details on the blue print.

"Alright, let's get some breakfast." exclaimed the kunoichi.

* * *

"I found it Kaa-chan!" exclaimed a voice from the bathroom.

Ino turned her head and smiled brightly as she saw her son proudly holding a silver necklace.

"Thank you Takeshi, you are a life-saver." she said kissing the short brown hair of her grinning child.

"You left it on the washstand." explained the boy, his bright blue eyes following his mother she put the necklace on.

Ino felt better as soon as she touched the amethyst pendant. She cared a lot for it and usually never took it off, yesterday being an exception as she as to clean it after the battle. She let out a small smile feeling the familiar weight again. It had been the first present of Kiba and the only one she took with her when she left. Seeing him again had hurt, even after all this time. And it hurt even more since she knew she still loved him. She had thought about letting him know about Takeshi at some point. Unlike the other girls, she did not have to worry about relationships between villages, strict family clans, and other expectations. She also felt bad that Takeshi had to grow up without a father. But if she decided to do it, it would also impact the other kunoichis and their children. She let out a small laugh as she looked at her son who was hesitating between a dark blue and a light brown shirts. He definitely got that from her. But she could also see Kiba in him: strong-minded and caring.

"Kaa-chan, are we going to live here now?" asked the young boy.

"Yes, this is our home village."

"Can we go visit!?"

"Not yet. In a couple of days, there will be a party for us and you will be able to meet everyone. And then, you can go visit."

"Why can't we go now?" pouted Takeshi.

Ino turned to her son and kneeled beside him, her hands on his shoulders.

"Takeshi, it is very important that none of you get out of this house until we tell you it is okay, do you understand?" she asked, serious. "Also do you remember the rule?"

"Never talk about Keiko-chan's hair and Shinji's eyes."

"That's right, it is very important to keep everyone safe, ok? Can I count on you?"

"Yes, Kaa-chan."

"Alright then!" exclaimed the kunoichi, her bright smile returning. "Let's get Akari-chan and go eat breakfast. Knowing her, she probably forgot all about it!"

Ino and Takeshi exited their room and walked down the corridor to the living-room.

"Akari-chan" sang the blond haired kunoichi.

Deep onyx eyes meet her as the child raised her head from her fairy tales book and the ninja felt her heart miss a beat. 'God, her eyes are just like his. Good thing her spirit is more like her mother's, it would be difficult to hide.' thought the mind manipulator as she stared at the young girl sitting on a couch, her long pink hair in a low side ponytail over her left shoulder.

"Good morning, Auntie Ino, Takeshi-kun" greeted the child smiling. "Okaa-san already left, if you are looking for her."

"We came to take you to breakfast." explained Ino.

"Ahh, thank you! I had completely forgotten."

"I know; you are just like your mother. Shall we?"

* * *

So! Do you like them? What did you think? And the girls' thoughts? Please don't hesitate to leave comments! See you in two weeks for Sakura's thoughts!


	8. The Uchiha mansion

Oh my god, I did not realize that I had not updated in so long! I am so sorry everyone! I have had some trouble with deciding what to put in this chapter and the next one. I had to redo this chapter several times until I got something I was happy with... It is longer than my usual chapters... Anyway, I would like to thank Cadyn Brewer-Sidelia Miller, Mei fa-chan, Azu-susi-chan, I love pusa, nejiten 3, Uchiha Misaki, 1412, .Didi, sakuraseeker2792, cumidodol, and H189 for reviewing and following this fanfiction. Without any more delay, chapter 8! Enjoy!

Chapter 8: the Uchiha mansion

Sakura had awakened at dawn that morning and swiftly left the suite to clear her mind. Coming back felt… unreal. She found that many things had changed: the evil smirk on Naruto's face before he 'attacked' Hinata, Kurenai and Asuma's second child, Shizune and Kakashi together... Other things had not: Gai-sensei and Lee's youthful spirits, her master's drinking habits, Sasuke's attitude… The cherry blossom felt her heart miss a beat as she thought of him. He had hardly talked to her. And yet, she had felt his stare, like he was watching her every move. He had been constantly by her side from the moment they met in the base to when she left to see Akari. She did not know what to make of his behavior. 'Damn that Uchiha' she thought 'Make up your mind Sasuke! It's already hard enough for me to deal with my feelings, stop sending confusing signals!'

The kunoichi thoughtfully strolled down the streets of Konoha, her eyes wandering on the new buildings. Tsunade had informed them that the village had been attack two years ago on the order of Orochimaru to steal a scroll of forbidden technics. Although the Leaf had successfully prevented the theft, most of the east part of the village had been destroyed, including her old house and Tenten's apartment. Sakura felt bad that she had not been there when her village needed her but distracted herself from the guilt by looking around for houses. She knew they would not find anything like the large manor they had back in Taki, but she still needed a place to fit the twelve of them, at least for the time being. They had gotten used to living together and were reluctant to separate, especially with those ninjas hunting them. Also as Tokiko was going to live in her old apartment, she wanted to find a place nearby.

"Sakura!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by a shout. The cherry blossom turned to the voice and saw Iruka running toward her.

"Good morning Iruka-sensei" greeted the kunoichi.

"Good morning Sakura" answered the shinobi. "So you really are back. I heard from Naruto that you guys were here but I had to see you with my own eyes to believe it."

"Did you not believe him?"

"Well… You see…I thought it was another drinking night where the boys end up completely hum… drunk and say that you girls are back… Or that they are going to look for you …Or that once they find they will never let you go again… And other things like that… So yeah, I was not sure I should believe him."

"We have caused a lot of trouble to everyone, haven't we?" murmured the young woman.

"It does not matter anymore. You are here" comforted the teacher "Welcome back."

"Thank you Sensei."

"By the way, he also said something about children…"

"Yes, the six of us have children."

"I see. Well, I guess I will see them at the Academy."

"About that… At what age can they enroll?" asked the cherry blossom.

"It's usually six. Why?"

"Our children are very bright and capable, and it feels like a waste to wait three years. So we were wondering if we could enroll them now."

"Well, three years old is a little young… I can probably test them to see if they are ready… Would all six of them enroll?"

"Yes, but two only temporarily for now."

"Temari and Matsuri, right?"

"Yes."

"I will see what I can do. Maybe we can test them the day after the party; how does that sound?"

"That would be great! Thank you Sensei!"

"Well, I need to go if I don't want to be late for class. See you at the party Sakura!" exclaimed the shinobi as he started running toward the Academy.

"See you!" answered the medic.

* * *

The kunoichi continued looking around for a few hours. She had seen several houses for sell, but none of them were big enough, or would require much renovation in order to make them habitable, or belonged to the Hyuuga clan. Sakura sighed; it was much harder than she thought. Deciding it was time to take a break, she made her way to the dango store where she was greeted by a rather unusual sight: Neji and Sasuke sharing dango! 'Calm down Sakura, don't make hasty judgments' inwardly screamed the cherry blossom. 'There might be a perfectly logical explanation. Wait, could it be why Sasuke did not talk to me!? Maybe he just slept with me to see whether or not he was attracted to female! He was drunk after all... Oh God, was I that bad that he turned the other way!? Why did I do to the world?! And the Uchiha clan!? Well that part might be safe, Akari is here after all…' Completely lost in her delirious thoughts, the young woman had not heard her teammate calling for her.

"OI!" shouted the Uchiha, in a last attempt to get her attention. "What are you doing crouching on the floor?"

The kunoichi slowly raised her head before realizing that she was indeed squatting in a corner of the shop. She got up with a nervous smile, looking anywhere but at her teammate.

"Nothing really. I thought I saw something that's all" she lied. "And you? What are you doing here?"

"Taking a break from our training" answered Neji. "… … Would you like to join us?"

"Sure!" she exclaimed as the three of them went back to the boys' table.

Sakura ordered a couple of dango brochettes before looking back at the two shinobis.

"So, do you guys often train together?"

"Hn" answered the Sharingan bearer.

"Kakashi-sensei told me that the two of you were Anbu now, congratulations!"

"Thank you" said the Hyuuga.

Silence fell on the table. Sakura was starting to feel uncomfortable. Was she interrupting something? Were they really…

"No" suddenly said Sasuke, attracting the cherry blossom's attention.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"What you are thinking about. The answer is no."

"How do you know what…?"

"It's written all over your face." answered the Uchiha with a smirk.

The kunoichi felt her face burning from embarrassment. She did not know what embarrassed her more: the fact that she thought they were together, she still remembered Konohamaru's transformation in Sai and Sasuke, or that Sasuke could read her that easily.

"I see" she said, resuming eating in an effort to hide her blush.

"Do you girls know where you are going to stay?" asked Neji.

"Not yet, I was actually out looking for houses but it did not go very well."

Sasuke rapidly stood up.

"Come" he demanded before exiting the shop.

"What? I am not done eating!" exclaimed the cherry blossom.

"I will go back to training" said Neji. "Join me when you are done Uchiha."

"Hn" answered the shinobi, fully aware of the small sly smirk the Hyuuga was sending him.

Sakura quickly grabbed the last of her dango before waiving Neji good bye and running after her teammate.

"Sasuke-kun, where are we going?" asked the kunoichi.

Sasuke had led her to a part of the village she was not as familiar with, nearer the Hokage Mountain. It looked older, with several large houses. Maybe one of them was for sell? She was so busy looking around that she noticed Sasuke had stopped a second too late and bumped in his back.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun. I…"

"How about this one?" asked Sasuke pointing a large mansion.

It was an elegant modern mansion with three stories. Sakura thought about it. It looked very nice and certainly big enough. The neighborhood seemed safe. And the location was great: she had passed Tokiko's apartment about fifteen minutes ago, she could see the hospital from here and the academy was just half an hour from there. Yes, this house would be perfect.

"I would have to visit to make sure, but it looks great." she answered. "Do you know…"

She was interrupted by Kakashi.

"Yo!" greeted the silver haired man. "What are you two doing here?"

"Good afternoon, Sensei. I was looking for a house and Sasuke was showing me this one." answered the cherry blossom.

Kakashi turned to see the mansion Sakura was pointing at and smirked under his mask. "Is that so?" he said, throwing a knowing glance at Sasuke. "What do you think then?"

"It looks great, but I would need to visit it to make sure it can fit everyone." answered the kunoichi.

"You are lucky, I think Sasuke has the keys!" exclaimed the older man.

"Really? But why would Sasuke-kun…? began to ask the young woman watching as his teammate was opening the door.

"Are you coming?" interrupted the said teammate, holding the door.

Sakura quickly followed him inside, trailed by Kakashi. As she entered the large living room, she could not help but appreciate the décor. Beige and brown tones with touches of deep red gave the room a warm feeling. It was different from their old house, but she could see herself and her friends living here.

"The kitchen is on the left," said Sasuke indicating a door at their left, "and the door to the veranda behind the stairs."

Sakura took a quick look at the spotless kitchen before following Sasuke upstairs. The second floor had four rooms and two bathrooms.

"The rooms are rather large so it would be easy to put three children in one." explained Kakashi. "And two of you girls could share the two other rooms on this floor."

"You mean three, right?" asked the cherry blossom. "There is only four room and 12 of us."

"There is a master suite upstairs" replied the silver haired man pointing at the stairs next to where Sasuke was. "It is fairly large, and it has its own bathroom and study room."

"You sure know a lot about this house, Sensei." said Sakura as she looked around the floor.

"You can say that." he chuckled eyeing discreetly Sasuke. "So, what do you think?"

"It is perfect! I love it! Do you know if it is for rent? Or for sale? You never said for owned this house…"

"You." stated Sasuke.

"What? What do you mean me?" replied the kunoichi. Sakura was getting confused. As far as she knew, no one is her family ever owned such as house. She turned her questioning gaze to her sensei as Sasuke climbed the stairs leading to the master suite. He came down a few seconds later with a couple of pieces of paper in his hand and hand it to her. It was the property act of the house as well as the declaration form for property ownership transfer. It was this particular piece of paper that got her attention. The document indeed declared her owner of the house. But what stunned her was the name of the previous proprietor…

"Sasuke-kun" she whispered. "Sasuke-kun" she repeated louder, looking at him. "What does this mean? This is your house! What are you…?!"

"It's your house." replied firmly the young shinobi.

"What are you talking about!? It is your family house!" she shouted, waving the documents.

"I gave it to you."

"Gave it to… What… Why would you do something like that?!"

As he was not replying, the kunoichi sighed. "I can't accept this, Sasuke-kun. It is your family heritage. You really should not give it away like that. Let me at least buy it from you or…

"It's your house, Sakura!" shouted the young man, interrupting her, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

Silence fell in the room as the cherry blossom was too stunned by his outburst to say anything.

"What… What's going on, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked.

"Like he said, Sakura, it is your house." He answered.

"But Sensei, he can't do that! His family heritage…!"

"Listen, Sakura. Sasuke has decided to give this house to you, can't you just accept it?"

"Of course I can't! Nothing is more important to Sasuke than his family! I can't let him do something like that, it is not right!"

The older shinobi sighed.

"Do you know whose house it was?" he asked.

"Sasuke's?"

"Yes, but it was built by his mother. She wanted a house outside of the Uchiha compound, for her family to "escape" from the clan's expectations and rules from time to time. As such, it is the only house where nobody died in."

"All the more reason for Sasuke-kun to…"

"Sasuke started renovating the house after Orochimaru's attack. His apartment had also been destroyed and we thought that he had decided to live here. There are some crazy stories about the renovation, all the boys ended up helping. The Hokage and I were rather glad; we took it as a sign that he was moving on… We were surprised when he bought a new apartment nearby. At first, I thought he had enough of living with Naruto and that it was temporary until he was done with the mansion… When I asked him about it, do you know what he answered?"

"That he could not bear living of instant ramen anymore?"

"Funny, most likely the case, but no. He said: 'She will need a place when she comes back.'"

"'She'? Who was he talking about?"

"Can't you guess? He was talking about you. And a few months later, when everything was done, he went to the Hokage, filled the transfer of ownership form, and made you the new owner of the Uchiha mansion." As Sakura stayed silent, he continued. "Do you understand now? He has always meant this mansion to be yours. If you want the absolute proof that it is your house, go see the master suite. He has already put your old things there, waiting for you."

Kakashi waited a few seconds for her reply but as she stayed silent, made a few hand signs before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

It took Sakura a few minutes to realize her sensei was gone. Her mind was full of thoughts as she slowly climb the stairs to the master suite. The room was luminous and on her right, she could see a balcony with a beautiful view of the Hokage Mountain. She let her eyes wander around the room until she caught a glimpse of two picture frames on one of the bedpost. The frames were different, probably broken when her house was destroyed, but the pictures were the same. Her team. A tear escaped her eye and landed on the glass protecting her precious souvenirs. Kakashi was right. Sasuke had made sure that she would have everything she needed to feel at home. She still felt confused by his actions, but she let out a smile before exiting the house to look for her teammate.

* * *

It did not take long for Sakura to find the young shinobi; he was practicing on their training ground. He had his back to her but she knew he knew she was here.

"Are you really, really serious about giving me this mansion?" asked the cherry blossom.

"Hn" he replied, turning to face her.

"You are not going to let it go no matter what I say, are you?"

"Hn"

"You are so confusing and infuriating, you know that!?"

"Hn"

"Is 'hn' the only thing you can say?"

"Welcome home" he murmured as his deep onyx eyes met her bright green ones.

"I'm home" she answered with a small smile. Yes, she was finally home.

They two stayed silent for a few minutes before Sakura let out a sigh.

"I got it. Well, I better go tell the girls so we can start moving in. My old stuff is already there, but do you know where are Ino's and Tenten's by any chance?"

"Her family's house and the Hyuuga mansion."

"Figures. Ino's parents will most likely help her with that, but Hinata won't go anywhere near the Hyuuga's and that might be too much for Tenten by herself."

"Hyuuga can help."

"I am sure Naruto will be glad to help too. That should be enough between the three of them. We can have Tokiko and Matsuri watch over the kids while we move in and get them to the house once we are done…" Sakura interrupted herself when she noticed that look on Sasuke's face. "What is it?"

"Why are you trying so hard to hide them?" demanded the shinobi. "You don't trust us?"

Sakura adverted her eyes from him and did not reply.

"You don't trust us." stated the Sharingan bearer.

"It's not like that!" shouted the cherry blossom. "It's… It's something this guy said. He said that we would never be safe, not even in Konoha."

"This guy? The one we brought back?"

"Yes. And it scares me. Their organization is powerful and they have agents in many places… But this is home, the place we should always be safe. To think that they could be here too… That they could try to take them away… I…"

"That won't happen" sighed Sasuke.

"What?"

"You said it yourself; this is home. Your home, and therefore that of your children. Do you seriously think we will let anything happen to them?"

"No, but…"

"Besides, you have been doing a good job protecting them before, right?"

"Yes, but…"

"And you know that we have gotten stronger while you were gone, right?"

"Yes, but..."

"Have some faith in us." murmured the young shinobi.

Silence fell on the two.

"You're right." said Sakura with a small smile. "Thank you Sasuke-kun…Well, I should get going. We still have to move! See you later!" exclaimed the kunoichi with a wave of her hand as she starting running toward the Hokage tower.

Sasuke allowed himself a small smile before running toward Kakashi's home to let him know there was a chance that the girls' attackers were in the village. They did not really talk about them yet, so the information they have about this organization were limited but if they were strong enough to scare his cherry blossom this much, they were not to be treated lightly. 'A good thing that the house already has several protection jutsus' he thought. 'But we might have to place it under Anbu's surveillance too, just in case.'

* * *

So how was the Sasusaku? Next chapter, the meeting! See you in two weeks! (Hopefully I have school projects and finals to do, argh!)


	9. Picnic by the river

I am so so sorry for the delay, I really wanted to give you this chapter as an end-of-the-year present but I really could not make it on time… I feel super bad!

Something unexpected has been brought to my intention: apparently some people thought that Sasuke knew that Akari was his child. I want to make it clear: none of the guys know that it is their kids! Sasuke's delirium from Chapter 6 about Sakura having his child is just what it is: a delirium. I REPEAT: None of the guys know that it is their kids!

I also would like to thank FraDiavolo, Neji107, Ellerocks92, Terry The Terryble, cutezyeyes13, I love pusa, Uchiha Misaki, Kisaragi Shiki; maiaraiadette, Nejiten3 (it will come! I already thought of a scene but it won't come until later), brokenblackbutterfly, sakuraseeker2792, hellsmile89, SheWolf1234, HannaHNEMI, cumidodol, and Silima for reviewing, favoriting, and following this fanfiction. Sorry again for being late, hopefully this chapter is worth the wait!

Chapter 9: Picnic by the river

"What are you slowcoaches doing?!" shouted Tsunade. "Hurry up we don't have all day!"

"Why don't you come help us!" shouted back Jiraiya.

"Don't worry, Tsunade-sama," replied Yoshino, "everything will be ready on time. We still have one hour before the beginning of the picnic."

"There is still much to do", grumbled the sannin as she observed the ninjas preparing the area for the party.

They had chosen a place near the river as advised by Tokiko, on the West side of the city near the training grounds. The shade the trees provided would be appreciated as it was rather warm for a beginning of April. The preparations were going well: the food was almost ready, the sake well hidden, most of the guests had arrived, and she had seen Shikaku set up his shogi board to play until the party started. Actually, the only thing missing was…

"Where are these stupide boys!" she shouted.

* * *

Shino did not mind silence. Really. He actually quite enjoyed having a break from Naruto and Kiba's shouting matches. But even he could hardly stand the oppressive silence that surrounded them as they walked down the path to the river. He sympathized with Kiba and the other boys but the gloomy atmosphere was too much. He glances at Choji, inconspicuously asking him to start a conversation. However, his message went unnoticed as Choji was busy stuffing down his pack of chips. 'It looks like I will be the one to bring their spirits up' thought the insect manipulator.

"All of you, stop that."

The boys stopped walking and turned to him.

"Stop what?" asked Kankuro.

"The gloomy silence. You are going to make everyone uncomfortable. I understand that you guys are upset because of the children, but we know they were not forced into anything, meaning that they most likely loved these men."

"I don't know if that makes the situation better" mumbled Kiba.

"But, since we don't know why they left or what happened during these four years, we should not judge anything."

"Shino, I think you are making it worst…" whispered Choji.

"And the situation must not be easy for them either: raising children without their fathers at such an age must be hard, especially with attackers on their trails."

"Seriously, man, stop talking…" murmured Kankuro.

"Therefore, as their best friends and brothers, we should be focusing on supporting them through this hard period."

"Is it what being friend-zoned is like?" wondered Sai out loud.

"So, get you guts together and act like men."

Silence met the end of his speech. Suddenly, Kiba burst out laugh.

"To think that Shino, of all the people, is giving us the pep talk… we must really look awful" he managed to say between to laughs.

"You are right, Shino" continued Naruto "Today is not about us: it is about welcoming our girls home. They are back and that's the most important! We can worry about the rest later, so, everyone, smile and be happy!"

"Dobe" mumbled Sasuke, as he and the boys resumed walking toward the meeting place.

"What was that, Teme?!" shouted Naruto, running after him.

Shino smiled behind his coat: mission accomplished.

The boys arrived at the river a few minutes later, greeted by a shouting Tsunade, who demanded that they help setting things up.

"Everything has to be ready for our youthful flowers, isn't that right Gai-sensei!" shouted Lee.

"Exactly, my youthful student!" replied his sensei.

"Oi! Konohamaru! When are the girls supposed to arrive?" asked Naruto, as he was putting the last dishes on the table.

"In about 15 minutes" answered the boy "Kurenai-sensei! Reika and Mitsuho are trying to eat the cake!"

"It's alright, they are too small to reach the plates" replied the kunoichi. "Moegi, could you just make sure they don't go near the river?"

"Of course, Kurenai-sensei" answered the girl, before taking the two children to where Hanabi and she were seated.

After a few more minutes, all the preparations were done.

"Good" said Tsunade "Now we just need to wait for them."

* * *

"Hurry up, Pig! We are going to be late!" shouted Sakura from the bottom of the stairs.

"I just need 5 more minutes, Forehead!" answered the blond kunoichi from one of the second floor's bathroom.

"That's what you said 15 minutes ago! We are supposed to meet them in half an hour!"

"We still have time!"

"It takes 20 minutes just to get there, Pig! Hurry!"

"Give up, Sakura" laughed Tenten. "You should know better than rushing her out of a bathroom."

"It does not take than long to get dressed…" mumbled the cherry blossom. "Is everybody else ready to go?"

"Yes, Okaa-san" answered Akari.

"Good. Why don't you and our cousins go play in the living room while we wait for Auntie Ino?"

"Yes, Okaa-san. Can I start reading my new book?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Akari cheered excitedly and ran to the living room, as Sakura smiled fondly. She joined the other kunoichis and Tokiko in the living room and started talking about enrolling the children to school. A few minutes later, Ino came down the stairs.

"See, Forehead, nothing to worry about! We will be there on time!" exclaimed the mind manipulator.

"For once…" grumbled the medic. "Alright, is everyone ready? Everyone remember the rules?"

"Yes!" replied the children.

"Let's go then!"

The walk to the river was eventless, but the children had noticed that their mothers were getting more nervous as they approached the meeting spot.

"Daichi-kun, Shinji-kun" whispered Akari, her onyx eyes on her mother. "Do you know why our Okaa-san are so serious?"

"Don't know" answered Daichi. "Shinji and I were talking about it. Maybe it has something to do with the rules."

"That's what I thought too. But I don't like it, I like when Okaa-san is smiling better."

"Yeah, troublesome."

"But they still look happy, so I guess it's alright…"

"Yeah."

"Keiko-chan, Takeshi-kun, and Misa-chan look very happy too."

"Aren't you happy?" interrupted Shinji.

"I don't know… I am nervous… What if they don't like us? What if we disappoint them? What if… what if they start hating our Okaa-san because of us?"

"Don't worry about it, Akari." comforted Daichi. "If they don't like us, that's their loss."

"Daichi is right. Isn't that what your Okaa-san always says?" continued Shinji.

"It is. Thank you!"

"Akari-chan! This way! I can see the river!" shouted Keiko from further ahead. The three kids shared one last look before running to catch up with their cousin.

* * *

"Akari-chan! This way! I can see the river!"

The little girl's shout resonated all the way to the ninjas down by the river who turned in the direction of the shout.

"Keiko! Do run too far!" they heard Hinata say.

"Looks like they are finally here" said Tsunade as everybody gathered to greet the girls.

They first spotted Ino, holding the hand of a young boy. Next came Hinata and Sakura, with between them two young girls holding hands and laughing. Following them, two young boys were walking in front of Temari and Tenten. Right next to the wind manipulator, Matsuri was holding as young girl in her arms. Nervousness filled both sides and silence fell. The girls stopped a few meters in front of the welcome-committee, holding their breaths as they saw the eyes of the friends going from them to their children. Not a word was said for what seemed to be an eternity to both sides.

"Ah! Mister red ninja!"

All eyes went to the girl who spoke.

"Misa? What is it?" inquired Matsuri.

"It's Mister red ninja, mama. Let me down!" answered the little girl.

Matsuri slowing lowered her child to the ground, fully aware that all eyes were on them. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Misa ran to her ninja, a large smile adorning her face.

"Thank you for bringing everybody back, Mister red ninja!" she said, her eyes locked with his.

Gaara kneeled down beside her, a small smile founding its way to his face.

"You are welcome" he answered.

"Mister red ninja? You mean Gaara?" asked Temari, holding back a laugh. She could totally see where the nickname came from.

"Misa, his name is Gaara Subaku and he is the Kazekage of our village." explained Matsuri. "You must address him as Gaara-sama or Kazekage-sama, do you understand?"

"Yes, mama. Thank you for bringing everybody back, Gaara-sama." repeated the child, looking back at her mother for approval.

"It's not fair" whined Naruto. "We were there too, and we did not get a smile!"

"Dobe." Replied Sasuke as everybody laughed at Naruto's pout.

Tsunade let out a small sigh, the heavy atmosphere was starting to turn into a more relaxed one. She watched as Temari introduced her son to her family, a smile on her face. She laughed when Inoichi pulled his grand-son in a bear-hug, shouting how happy he was to have another man in the family. She took notice of the tense introduction of Hinata's daughter to her father, and was relieved to see that Hiashi was behaving well. Her eyes continued wandering to Tenten, whose son was being greeted by loud "what a youthful boy!" and "a miracle of the power of youth!". A little further away, she saw Sakura introducing her daughter to her teammates, the small pink-hair laughing sweetly at yet another dispute between the three boys. After a few minutes of introduction, she let everybody know that lunch was ready and watched as the ninjas made their ways to the food tables.

"So, what do you think?" asked Jiraiya.

"What do I think of what?" replied the blond sannin, smirking behind her sake.

"Don't play dumb with me Tsunade" grumble the shinobi. "What do you think about the kids? This situation? The fathers?"

"Well, it will take a while for everyone to adjust to the situation but the children look like they won't be troublemakers, which is a blessing. The girls raised them well. As for the fathers, I don't know."

"You mean you don't know who the fathers are?"

"I have no confirmation of their identities."

"Confirmation, hm. So that means that you have suspicions, very strong suspicions."

"… I do."

"Which also means that you know their potential fathers, meaning there is a large change that they belong to the village. Considering the people they usually hang out with, I can pretty much guess who you think the fathers are. If we are right, that could explain their sudden departure and…" he stopped as he noticed Tsunade glare harshly at him. "Alright, I get it. I will stop talking about it. But you know, it is only a matter of time before other people come to the same conclusion as me. And if people like Orochimaru and Akatsuki make that conclusion…"

"We will protect them. They are part of our village now."

Silence surrounded them for a few seconds, before Tsunade let out a smirk.

"Do you want to bet on who will understand first?"

"Sure. Do you want to bet about which one of the fathers or who in general?" asked the shinobi.

"How about both?" answered the blond medic.

"Sounds good. If I win one of the two bets, I get a date with you. And if I win both, I take you for a looong weekend at the spa."

"Pervert. But alright, if I win one if the two bets, you buy a bottle of the most expensive sake in Konoha. And if I win both, you still buy me a bottle but you also do my paperwork for an entire week."

"It's decided. I bet that Kakashi and Shikamaru will understand first."

"Not a bad choice, but I think Asuma and Neji."

Sharing one last challenging look, they turned to join the rest of the ninjas by the tables.

* * *

I added a Shino moment because I saw videos on Shino and I thought that it would be a great place to put an awkward-moment-Shino-style. And just so you guys know, I made Reika 5 years old and Mitsuho 2 years old (the two children of Kurenai and Asuma).

In the next chapter, we will have everyone's thoughts on the situation. Hopefully I won't take forever to write it, I already know what I want to write, I just don't know how… It's so frustrating! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and see you soon!


	10. I should hate her'

It took me forever… I am so sorry! In my defense, I am graduating soon so I am doing papers, presentations, projects, trying to revive my Saint Seya fanfiction, and looking for a job at the same time, so if anyone hears anything about a job in marketing research, let me know!

So this is the first part. The chapter was becoming too long, and I was only half way through what I wanted to write, so I had to cut it in two. Thank you to Ruby-Ray, Mystery Day Dreamer, Tanuki2000, Kosongbird, xFlipJamsx, Nejiten3, Silima, cumidodol, CherryBlossomClashGentleFist, rinnie21, 1412 for reviewing and following this fanfict! I hope it was worth the wait!

Chapter 10: 'I should hate her'

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. Although the lunch had started rather tensely, the children had slowly made their ways to the hearts of the ninjas: Akamaru had been monopolized by Keiko and Takeshi who had demanded to ride him, Daichi was playing shoji with Asuma, Shinji was by his mother's side talking to Kankuro, Misa was taking a nap in her mother's arms while she was talking with Temari, and Akari was talking with Reika, Hanabi and Moegi near the river. 'Well, not everyone has warmed up to them' thought the shinobi, eyeing a brooding Sasuke. He made his way to his student and sat beside him.

"What do you want Kakashi?" asked moodily the Uchiha.

"Even Neji is making an effort, Sasuke…" reprimanded the sensei.

"So what? Hyuuga does what he wants" he replied.

"Sasuke…" sighed the older ninja. He stayed quite for a few seconds as he noticed Sasuke's eyes on the pink hair child. "What do you think of her?"

"Nothing to think about."

"Keep trying Sasuke, but you know you can't fool me."

"Tch."

"She is very much like her mother. Only three years old and already worrying about school… Same pink hair… Same smile too… Same personality…"

"Same eyes" whispered Sasuke, but Kakashi had heard it.

"What do you mean? Sakura's eyes are green and Akari's are black."

"Nothing" answered the young shinobi too quickly.

"Sasuke"

"No"

"Come one, Sasuke"

"No!"

"Sasuke, I am warning you. Tell me now or I will have to do something drastic."

"It's nothing, why are you so interested anyway! Don't you have perverted books to read somewhere else?"

"It is nowhere near as fun. Tell me!"

"No!"

"Alright Sasuke, I warned you. If I can't get you to tell me, I am sure Sakura can. Saku…!"

Sasuke jumped out of his seat and slammed his hand against his sensei's mask, preventing him from calling the kunoichi over. Slowly eyeing the area around them, he sighed, relieved that the other guests had been too caught up in their activities to notice the altercation. He threw the older ninja his darkest look before sitting back down and grabbing his drink.

"I am not talking about the color" he grumbled. "I am talking about the radiance."

"The radiance?"

"When they look at their friends. It's the same."

"Now that you mention it."

"I didn't know that… black could shine like that."

Both ninjas fell silent, their eyes never leaving the little girl as she continued talking animatedly to the older girls.

"I should hate her." continued Sasuke. "I keep trying to look for reasons to hate her, but I can't seem to... Things would be much easier if I hated her… Now, you got what you wanted so go bother someone else!"

Kakashi stood, silently laughing at his student's pouting face and made his way to where Iruka, Sakura, and Ino were discussing. 'So he does not hate her. He just does not know how to handle her, no, how to handle them.' thought the Copy-nin with a smile.

* * *

Neji smirked as he watched the altercation between the Uchiha and the Anbu Captain. Whatever the silver hair man had said must have got him good, probably something about one of the pink hair girls. After a few minutes of peace, he felt someone sit beside him. 'Tenten's child' he inwardly growled. There was something strange about him; he did not like it at all. The fact that he was Tenten and some useless stranger's child did not help with the feeling. The boy sat in silence looking to were Keiko and Takeshi were playing with Akamaru. He took sometime of observe him: long brown hair, rather tall for his age, but there was something strange about his eyes. It seemed to be bothering him, he was rubbing them often.

"Shinji" suddenly said the boy, interrupting the shinobi's thoughts.

"What?"

"You keep staring at me, so I thought you had forgotten my name. It is Shinji."

"I had not forgotten."

"Then why we are you staring?"

"You are Tenten's son."

Shinji raised an eyebrow at the peculiar answer but did not bother reply. Neji took out the scroll on an advanced Taijutsu technic but found himself unable to focus. He stopped reading and looked over to the boy once again.

"Is there something wrong with your eyes?" he asked.

"What?"

"Your eyes. You keep rubbing them."

"It is nothing." replied the child tensely.

"If it was nothing, you could ignore it." insisted the shinobi.

"My eyes are fragile so I have to wear contacts. I am not used to them yet." lied Shinji. "It will go away. What are you reading?" he continued, anxious to take the conversation away from his eyes.

"About Taijutsu."

"Can I read it too? I might need it at the academy."

Neji looked at him a few seconds before nodding. This was much more advanced than he would be studying at the academy but it could not hurt. He put the scroll on the table and felt the boy shifted closer. 'As long as he does not bother me' thought the Hyuuga genius.

* * *

Keiko held her breath as she saw Akamaru approaching her hiding place. He had already found Takeshi and was now looking for her. The small girl slowly backed down further into the bushes until her back touched something… soft? She raised her head and let out a gasp as she saw Akamaru's large form towering over her.

"Ah! You found me" she exclaimed with a big smile.

Akamaru barked happily and laid down by her side to allow her on his back behind Takeshi before walking back to the picnic area where Hinata, Kiba and Shino were talking.

"Kaa-chan" shouted the little girl. "Look, Akamaru found the both of us!"

"He did, didn't he" answered the Hyuuga heiress. "Akamaru is very good at finding people, it is his job. But look at the both of you; you got your clothes all dirty."

"Sorry, Auntie Hinata" apologized Takashi.

The kunoichi laughed softy as she made her way to the children and helped them get down from Akamaru, before taking them near the river to clean up.

"These two seem to like you, boy" commented Kiba as Akamaru ran back to where he and Shino were sitting. "They look like good kids after all."

"Why would be they be?" asked Shino.

"It's just…I thought they would be more… Arg, I don't know… " he began, his eyes on Takeshi as he pouted when Hinata washed his face.

"I think the girls did a good job raising them by themselves."

Kiba inadvertently let out a low growl.

"Are you angry?" asked the insect manipulator.

"I'm not."

"You are. You just growled. Are you angry at the girls? At Ino?"

"… No. I am not happy, really, really not happy, about the situation but like you said earlier we don't know the whole story, so I will hold back… for now."

"At the kids then?"

"Neither… It is not their faults."

"So where is the problem?"

"There is no problem. Leave it!"

"Kiba" sighed Shino.

Kiba stayed silence for a few seconds before muttering: "The fathers."

"What?"

"I am mad because these assholes left them alone."

"You just said we did not know the whole story."

"You don't understand!" explained the dog master. "I would have done anything to be by Ino's side during all these years. So, the thought that some idiotic asshole had the opportunity to be with her and just… abandoned her… It's driving me crazy! Especially when she was with their child! I cannot think of any reason good enough to leave them… If it had been me… If I had been there, I would have never ever left her!"

"Yes, it must have been hard" stated Shino as Kiba let out another growl. "But on the bright side of things, it gives you a chance to fix the situation with Ino."

"Yeah, I still don't know why she is made at me."

"It is your chance to find out, don't mess things up this time."

Kiba was about to snarl back at the insect manipulator when Hinata came back, the two children running ahead to continue playing with Akamaru. The dog master bit back his reply and put a smile back on his face as his teammate sat beside him and the three of them watched over the kids.

* * *

Naruto let his eyes linger on the young heiress's form as she went to the river, two kids by her side. One, he remembered, was Ino's son and the other was Hinata's daughter: Keiko. He laughed as the young girl bent over the river and tried to remove the mud on her face.

"What are you looking at, Dickless?" asked Sai.

"Nothing" quickly answered the blond ninja.

Sai followed the shinobi's gaze. "Oh, Hyuuga-san. And her daughter. And Beautiful's son… … … It was quite a shock, to think that Ugly would have a child."

"Yeah" replied Naruto absent-mindedly.

"She looks very much like her mother too."

"Yeah"

"Hopefully she won't have the same temper."

"Yeah… Wait, what do you mean by 'not the same temper'?!" exclaimed Naruto. "My Hinata-chan's temper is cute and perfect! And if Keiko-chan is Hinata-chan's daughter, then she is perfect too! Got that, teme?!"

"Dickless… I was not talking about Hyuuga-san… I was talking about Ugly…"

Silence fell between the two as Naruto awkwardly realized what he had just been shouting.

"Oh… I see… Ahah… Ahah" he answered, forcing a laugh. "Oi, Choji! You're here to have some more of the barbeque?"

"Yeah," answered the shinobi. "What were you two talking about? You are very red Naruto."

"We were saying that it would be bad for our team if Ugly's daughter had the same temper as her mother." explained Sai. "And Dickless was commenting on Hyuuga-san's daughter. What about you? Beautiful has also quite a temper…"

"We should be good" replied the barbeque-lover. "Takeshi seems like a good kid and he is a boy so he cannot possibly be as bad as Ino."

"You seem pretty calm about the whole situation" remarked Naruto.

"There is nothing I can do, just try to make their lives easier here. If Ino wants to talk, I will listen. If not, I will still be there. And the kids are nice too, so it is not too much of a pain."

"You make it sound so easy" sighed the blond ninja.

"I am not as… directly affected as… some of you. So if you guys don't want to interact with them, I understand and I can help if needed. It might not hurt you guys as much and be less awkward."

"Thanks, but personally, I want to try." said Naruto. "Sakura is almost my sister, so it's like I have a niece, it's actually nice."

"I feel the same way with Ino and Takeshi. But what about…?"

"Hinata-chan?" His gaze returned on the young Hyuuga kunoichi. "I am not giving up on Hinata-chan. I love her, and if she lets me, I want to try and love her daughter too. I just want to be with her."

"That was very moving, Dickless." commented Sai.

"Shut up, teme."

* * *

Okay! Here is part 1 of the boys' thoughts. Hopefully I will have the second part soon… But looking at my updating time records, I cannot promise anything… I hope you guys enjoyed and see you next chapter!


	11. What they are capable of

Oh my god! Where did time go?! I felt like I updated this story not long ago but it has been more than two months! Reviving my Saint Seiya fanfic is harder than I thought, I don't know if I should continue it in French only or translate it to English too. I started a series of one shots from the game Star Wars the Old Republic that I should post soonish, so check it out if you play the game! I also came up with a pretty solid idea of plot for a Captain America/Avengers fanfic but I don't know if I will actually write the story... Still that shouldn't have delayed this one, I am so sorry! But all my thanks to Rinnie21, Lamelinam, Guest, fluffy1hothanyoulover, Juels, Aliasin, Meek Millz Miller, WhatAreRuneys, , Uchiha Misaki, bemine8, and Mystery Day Dreamer for reviewing and following this fic. In this chapter, we learn more about the guys' thoughts and about the children personalities and abilities. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 11: What they are capable of

Gaara looked apprehensively at the child in front of him, unsure of what to do. Matsuri and Temari had left a few minutes before to talk to Iruka-san about enrolling their children to school, as they would be staying in Konoha until the threat had been dealt with. The Kazekage was not pleased with the decision, but he knew it would be easier to protect them if they stayed together and had thus approved of the plan. He returned his gaze to the young girl he had been entrusted with. She seemed content to just play with the dirt, making small heaps here and there and occasionally looking up at him with a smile. 'She looks very much like Matsuri' thought the young shinobi. Matsuri. He had not missed how hesitant and nervous she had been to leave the child with him, looking almost scared. Did she not trust him? The thought hurt. His musings were interrupted when he felt his brother approach him.

"Oi, Gaara and… Misa-chan right?" greeted Kankuro.

Misa raised her head before running behind Gaara.

'Like mother, like daughter.' The puppet manipulator snickered. 'Gaara will always be the favorite.'

"I think you are scaring her." remarked the red shinobi. "Maybe you should put your make up back on."

"It's not make up, it's face paint!" exclaimed the other shinobi. "Whatever. I heard the girls will be staying here for a while."

"That is the plan."

"You approve?"

"… Yes."

"What about…" Kankuro's question was interrupted by Moegi running to them.

"Misa-chan" she called out to the child still hiding behind Gaara's legs. "Do you want to play with us?"

The young girl turned her gaze to the Kazekage, silently asking for his permission. He eyed the group for a few seconds and, deeming them trustworthy enough, nodded. His eyes never left her as she ran to the girls a smile adorning her face.

"Gaara…" sighed his brother warningly.

"What?" asked the sand manipulator, despite knowing exactly where the conversation was headed. They had had this discussion many times.

"The council is not going to approve."

"I don't care."

"Gaara, things are different now. She left for four years, Kami knows where, and comes back with a child. There is absolutely no way the council will approve."

"I have agreed to marry, Kankuro, in exchange that I choose my wife myself. I made my choice four years ago and have not changed my decision."

"What about the father?"

"… If Matsuri is serious about him, I will… not pursue her."

"You don't look so sure of yourself… Well it's not like we know anything about him, or actually them, I think we owe Daichi's dad a good beat up too…"

"We do."

"Look, do whatever you want, but as soon as the council hears about that there is going to be hell. So sort things out quickly. You should ask Temari about it, see what she thinks."

Gaara nodded turning her gaze to the brown haired sand kunoichi. 'Yes" he thought 'I will have to sort thing quickly.

* * *

Asuma smiled as he moved his knight under the watchful eye of his three years old opponent. He had been surprised when Daichi had insisted to play, saying that his mother had taught him the rules.

"So how do you like Konoha?" asked the shinobi.

"I have not seen much" answered the blond haired boy.

"Is it different from where you lived before?"

Daichi halted his move and looked suspiciously as the smiling ninja, analyzing the threat. He knew he was interrogating him. The rules did not say anything about talking about Taki and this man was friendly with his mother and aunts… The boy decided it was safe to answer.

"It's bigger. There are more people, but less trees and water."

"I see." answered the shinobi, a laugh in his voice as he had not missed the look. 'Just like his mother.' he thought.

They continued playing for a few minutes until Asuma move his silver general one last time, ending the game. Daichi frowned, studying the board before looking up:

"Again." he demanded.

"Why don't we take a break?"

"I don't want to."

"Well… I know! Why don't I wake Shikamaru and you can play with him?"

Daichi turned to the napping man a few meters from them.

"…Is he good?" he asked.

"He is better than me. You can learn a lot from him."

"…Okay."

Asuma stood up and, after few minutes, dragged his student to the table.

Shikamaru was not happy. After being introduced to Takeshi and committing the names and faces of the rest of the children to memory, he had decided to take a nap away from the commotion… and Temari. Looking at her hurt and he needed some time to bring his thoughts together and decide on a course of action. But of course, his sensei just had to demand that he played with the person he wanted to avoid the most. He was now stuck playing, Shogi of all games, with his Temari's three years old son.

"The first row is your pawns, they can only move…" started the shinobi.

"Kaa-san taught me the rules, we can start playing." interrupted the boy.

Shikamaru threw him a doubtful look before moving one of his pawns. They played in silence for a few minutes. The shadow manipulator was surprised by how well he played, for a child of his age. His strategies were simple and predicable but well executed.

"Your mother taught you well."

The child did not answer but he could see the proud smile on his face. 'Maybe it won't be so bad.' thought the shinobi. Silence fell once more as the two played until Shikamaru noticed that Daichi's hair kept falling on his face. Sighing, he took his extra hairband from his jacket and handed it to the boy.

"Use that for your hair, it's troublesome when it keeps falling."

Daichi was reaching for the hairband when he heard his name. Both males turned their heads to see Ino running toward us.

"Daichi, come quick. Iruka-sensei wants to give you the test to enter the academy." she said excitedly.

"A test?" complained the boy "Do I really have to?"

"Yes, you do. Come on, it will be fun to go to the academy with everyone." Seeing his bored look, she quickly added: "And your mom will be so proud!"

Shikamaru watched amused as the child gaze went from his friends, to his mother, to Ino, and back to his mother. Finally, the green eyed boy got up sighing and trotted toward the group with a low 'troublesome.'

"Aren't they too young to enter the Academy?" asked the shadow manipulator, his eyes still of the child.

"Yes, but we asked Iruka-sensei for an exception. They are all very intelligent for their age and we have been teaching them since they could walk."

"Why did you start training them so early?"

Shikamaru was surprised as he saw Ino's face suddenly darken. "It was needed" he heard her whisper. Feeling his stare, the kunoichi quickly put a smile back on her face and exclaimed excitedly: "You should come too, Shikamaru! Watch what they can do!"

"Troublesome" he muttered before getting up and following Ino.

* * *

Iruka watched as all six children sat at the table in front of him. The other ninjas had also come closer, eager to see what the little ones could do. He cleared his voice before explaining how the test would work.

"Alright, the test will comprise five parts: reading, writing, mathematics, general knowledge, and physical aptitudes. You will be giving a limited time for each part and you are not allowed to ask for help from us. Is there any question?"

"Are we allowed to help each other?" asked Akari.

"No, you are to complete everything alone."

"But sensei" interjected Keiko. "Kaa-chan said that teamwork is very important."

"That's right" continued Takeshi. "And if we go to the academy, we will help each other if we have problems."

"Takeshi, remember what we also said." said Ino. "Teamwork is very important but so are your individual abilities. How can you help your teammates if you don't know what you can do?"

"Think of it as the individual trainings we did." continued Tenten.

The children shared a look before nodding. They remembered the individual training their mothers sometimes did with them. They said that because of their bloodlines, each had specific abilities that the others could not use, so they had to train separately.

"Alright, if there is no more question, we will begin with the reading test." announced Iruka, distributing the test questions.

For the next few hours, the children went through the four first parts until Iruka collected all the tests and announced that Asuma would be in charge of the physical aptitude test while he graded their answers. He indicated the shinobi to begin and walked to a table further away to begin grading. As he went through their answers, he could not help but be amazed by their abilities. While not equal in quality, they all had the level to enter the first year of the academy and had Akari, Shinji, and Daichi not be so young, he would have recommended them to enter the second year directly.

After briefly observing the physical test, he picked up the answer sheets and look over them once again. Akari never scored under 90 on any test and he was particularly impressed by the quality of her writing. While she was very detailed and logic in her answers, her writing seemed to flow naturally, making not only interesting but also a pleasure to read. She also had the highest grade on the general knowledge test. 'Much like her mother' thought the sensei. Daichi and Shinji also never scored under 90, but their writing capacities were slightly under Akari's. Straight to the point, their arguments followed logic but they seemed to have trouble expressing their thoughts. However, they had the highest mathematics grade of the group. Keiko's answers seemed to follow a logic of their own, regardless of whether they made sense to anyone else. Her thoughts jumped all over the place, and Iruka had some trouble understanding how she got from one thought to another. The shinobi was rather surprised when he compared her style to Hinata's when she was at the academy. Yet, he could not shake the feeling that he had seen similar answers before… Takeshi and Misa's answers were also very good, never under 80, with Misa surprisingly having the third best grade in mathematics. Depending on their results in the physical tests, Iruka had no doubt that they would do great at the academy.

Asuma nodded appreciatively at the children in front of him. The test was rather simple: a couple of sprint and hurdles, a few try at throwing kunais, and a simple test for chakra manipulation, but all had done great. Takeshi and Keiko were the fastest on the sprints and hurdles, while Shinji hit the target every time with his kunais. "As expected from our youthful flower's son" had exclaimed Gai and Lee. Misa, after several failed attempt with kunais, asked to use her training johyo and successfully passed. Keiko, Shinji, and especially Akari also showed exceptional chakra manipulation skills, with Akari being able to produce a clone. Daichi also performed well, but he knew that his strength laid more in his mind than his physical capacities.

"So Sensei!" excitedly asked Ino. "What do you say?"

"I'm impressed, you taught them well. I see a very promising future for them."

"So, that means we can go to the academy?" asked Takeshi.

"If Iruka has no issue with that I don't see why not."

"There is no problem on my side. They all exceeded my expectations." said Iruka, joining the group. "I guess I will see you all tomorrow. But listen well, it won't be easy. I don't know how the other students will react. Are you sure you are ready for this?" he asked turning to the children.

"You better believe it!" shouted enthusiastically Keiko. "We are going to be the best ninjas ever!"

"Alright, then I guess we better get going, we have some shopping to do before tomorrow." said Sakura. "Thank you again for everything, minna."

"We are leaving already? I wanted to stay!" whined Keiko as Takeshi ran to hide behind Akamaru.

"We will see everyone again soon" said Hinata, extending her hand. "But we need to go if you want to go to school tomorrow."

Keiko hesitated for a second before taking her mother's hand, while Ino went to get her son.

"Now, everybody says thank you and goodbye." instructed Tenten.

A chorus of thank you and goodbye erupted from the group as the kunoichis took their children home.

* * *

"It was so nice to see our youthful flowers and their youthful children!" exclaimed Lee as the shinobis walked their ways home.

"Indeed" commented Sai.

"Teme, what's with the long face?" questioned Naruto, noticing the dark look on his teammate's face.

"Did any of you learn about what they did the last four years?" asked Sasuke. "Or why they left?"

The shinobis stopped on their tracks and turned to the Uchiha.

"No" answered Neji. "When I asked Hinata, she became very pale and changed topics."

"Same with Temari." continued Kankuro. "She just said they need to get away for some time and that she was sorry it took so long."

"They are being awfully secretive about it." noticed Sai. "Even without the issue about the children, they could at least tell us why they left."

"And about their attackers?" asked Sasuke.

"Ino said they have been training the kids since they could walk." said Shikamaru. "It may have started before they were born."

"Sakura said they are powerful and have agents everywhere, maybe even in Konoha." explained Sasuke. "She seemed afraid."

"Here?!" exclaimed Kiba. "How is that possible?!"

"That could explain why they did not want anyone to meet their children." commented Gaara. "They don't know whom to trust."

"We need to know more before jumping to conclusion." stated Neji. "We need to meet with them tomorrow to learn more so we can organize our defense. We also need to interrogate the shinobi we brought back."

"Let's do that when the children are at school" proposed Choji. "That way, they won't need to worry about them."

"And in the meantime?" asked Shikamaru. "Will they be safe?"

"That should not be a problem." reassured Naruto. "The girls are strong, remember all those creeps they beat up the last time? Plus the mansion has a whole bunch of protection jutsu and Teme lives like ten minutes away."

"Yeah. Well, I guess there is nothing to do until we talked to them." declared Kiba. "See you guys tomorrow then!" he shouted.

The boys said goodbye and headed home, impatient for the next day when their questions would be answered.

* * *

So, did you like it? I tried not to have the children too strong as they sometimes are in some fanfic but they needed to be strong enough to enter the academy. I hope it was somewhat ok. See you in the next chapters for some Q&amp;A about the bad guys of this story!


	12. The Enemies

It is done! Thank you so much to all who read, follow, favorited, and especially thank you to all you reviewed! You guys are the best! I'm sorry this chapter took so long to be written. It's mostly explanation about the enemies and I wasn't sure how I wanted to write it. It took me several tries to find something I was satisfied with. I hope you will like it. Read, enjoy, and review!

Reminder:

Names of the children:

Daichi – son of Temari and Shikamaru

Akari – daughter of Sakura and Sasuke

Misa – daughter of Masturi and Gaara

Shinji – son of Tenten and Neji

Keiko – daughter of Hinata and Nauto

Takeshi – son of Ino and Kiba

Bet:

Jiraiya: Kakashi and Shikamaru

Tsunade: Asuma and Neji

Chapter 12: The enemies

Tsunade frowned as she finished reading Inoichi's report. The situation was even more dangerous than she had feared.

"Shizune!" she called out.

"Yes, Tsundade-sama?" answered the young woman, opening the door to enter the office.

"Get me Inoichi right the way. Then call for Asuma, Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, Baki, and the brats."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama!"

The kunoichi swiftly turned on her heels and rushed out the door, barely missing Jiraiya who was entering.

"What going on?" he asked.

Tsunade raised her head from the report and signaled him to approach. Reading the scroll over her shoulder, his face quickly mimicked her own.

"Are we sure about that?" he demanded.

"I'm waiting for Inoichi for confirmation, but…"

"We already have Orochimaru and Akatsuki to take care of, and now this…"

Both ninjas fell silent. Jiraiya turned his head to observe his former teammate. She looked tired and worried. The issue was indeed very concerning and the timing extremely bad. The Sannin let out a sly smirk; he would have to redouble his efforts to distract her. Thankfully, their new bet should be a more than adequate diversion.

"You are gonna get wrinkles if you keep frowning like that." he said teasingly. "So, how is our little bet going on?"

The kunoichi glared at him, knowing exactly what he was trying to do, before answering.

"No one found out anything yet, they have only met the children yesterday. But I'm pretty sure Akamaru knows."

"Akamaru?"

"Hmm, he is not shy but it is unusual that he would let Takeshi ride on his back just like that, at least without Kiba asking him first. Keiko I can understand, she is Hinata's daughter. But Takeshi has no link to the team."

"Wasn't Kiba with Ino for some time? It could be why."

"Could be. But Kiba is uneasy around her; Akamaru is bound to have noticed and wouldn't do anything to make him more uncomfortable. That's precisely why it's suspicious. The only reason is if he knows something Kiba doesn't."

"So, does this mean we both lost the first bet?"

"… No. Akamaru is a dog, a ninja dog, but a dog nonetheless. We betted on humans."

"You really want your bottle of sake, don't you."

"Yes."

Jiraiya let out a loud laugh at her direct answer, pleased to have her back to her usual mood.

"They are starting school today, aren't they?" he inquired.

She nodded absentmindedly, focusing back on the report.

"Then, it's only of matter of time…" continued the Toad Sannin before interrupting himself when he felt familiar chakras approaching.

Seconds later, the door opened on the teachers, followed by their students, in a brouhaha of greetings. The hubbub lasted for some time before Tsunade exploded.

"Quiet, you brats! This is serious. I have the report on the interrogation conducted on the man we captured."

Silence immediately fell in the room as every ninjas focused their attention on the sannin.

"We are waiting for Inoichi so he can report. He should be arriving…" she interrupted herself as the shinobi appeared in the room. "You are here, good. Let's hear it."

The mind manipulator nodded before starting:

"We conducted our interrogation late last night. The prisoner was very resilient to many physical interrogation techniques and also proved a difficult opponent when trying to enter his mind. We had to ask three other members of the Yamanaka clan to help us."

"So he was trained." commented Asuma.

"Yes, and very well. But we still managed to get some information from his mind. They are a group of missing-nin from Oni no Kuni."

"Oni no Kuni?" interrupted Lee, turning to Neji. "The same country we fought Moryo in?"

"It would appear so."

"I thought we had defeated them… What do they want with the girls?" asked Naruto.

"Ugly participated to this mission, didn't she?" remarked Sai. "Is this how they learned about them?"

"I was getting there, let me finish…" sighed the Yamanaka patriarch. "Some have apparently survived and regrouped around a man, but I couldn't find anything about him or his organization. At first, they were only interested in Keiko, because of the Byakugan. However, recent orders indicated new targets: the girls themselves were to be captured alive."

"That could explain the kidnapping of Akari." noted Kakashi. "By abducting not just Keiko but also Akari and bringing them to one of their bases, they increased the chance of the girls storming in and made it easier to capture them. Do we know the reasons behind this sudden change?"

"Apparently, the girls have developed unusual and powerful techniques over the last four years. It could be what they are after."

"So, only Keiko is really in danger then." stated Kiba.

"Actually no. Even though, no order has been issued to capture them, all the children are persons of interest."

"Do we know why?" frowned Gaara.

"There are… stories about them. Things they are capable of doing, when they should not. Tales are spreading wildly around the village they lived in."

"We have seen them." commented Kurenai. "While they are indeed more capable than children of their age usually are, I don't see any reasons to call up so many ninjas just to capture them."

"It's because that's not the only thing. Rumor is they are children of powerful shinobis. Considering their current abilities and combining them with the known abilities of their mothers and unknown abilities of their potentially powerful fathers, they could quickly become the most powerful ninjas of their generation. That's a reason to get to them as soon as possible, while they are still young enough to be manipulated."

"Do we know anything about that?" asked Choji.

"Unfortunately not." sighed Inoichi. "By the time we got to this topic, his mind had already started to break. He died soon after, before we could find out about any agent in Konoha."

"That's not good." muttered Kankuro.

"Cause of death?" requested Sasuke.

"Unknown jutsu designed to destroy the mind. We couldn't do anything."

"As far as we know, this group has no link to either Orochimaru or Akastuki." Tsunade said. "But we cannot exclude the chance they make an alliance at some point."

"Or they could also become interested in our lovely kunoichis and the kids." continued Jiraiya. "Which means we can't let our guards down."

"We will need to talk to the girls to see what they know." suggested Kurenai. "They should be settled down now."

"Do that with Kakashi." approved the blond sannin. "Asuma and Baki-san, could you go to the school, see how things are doing?"

Baki waited for his Kazagake's authorization before nodding.

"And what about us, baa-chan?" asked Naruto.

"You can go back to whatever you were doing before, but keep your eyes open. We will keep you updated. Dismissed."

The ninjas bowed and exited the room, leaving Jiraiya and Tsunade alone.

"You are cheating, Tsunade…" grumbled the Toad sannin. "Having Asuma watch over the children and sending Kakashi away."

"The perks of being the Hokage." smirked the kunoichi.

* * *

Kakashi and Kurenai walked silently as they headed toward the girls' new house, each thinking on how to broach the topic.

"We better be straightforward." recommended Kakashi as they approached the door. "They are probably expecting this by now and beating around the bushes won't do any good."

The kunoichi nodded and knocked. Seconds later, Sakura opened the door with a small smile.

"We were waiting for you." she greeted, gesturing them to enter. "You can join us in the living room. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be great" thanked Kurenai.

In the living room, all the other kunoichis greeted them and the two jounins sat down. After a few minutes, Sakura arrived with the tea.

"You know why we are here." started the shinobi. "We have interrogated the man Sakura captured. He gave us very little information as he was killed by a jutsu when we tried to enter his mind."

"We will tell you what we know, Sensei." assured the cherry blossom. "But we don't know much either."

"They have been after us for three years now." started Temari. "We had been in Taki for some time when they first attacked the manor we lived in. A small group of 8 ninjas. Their technics were average, Chunins level we estimated. It didn't take long to dispose of them."

"A few of them escaped." continued Tenten. "We didn't think much of it at first. This type of attack wasn't uncommon in the area. But we noticed we were sometimes being followed we went to the village. We also found surveillance equipment. We set up protection jutsu and took care of any threats we came across."

"It wasn't until a year ago that the attacks became more serious." explained Ino. "There were stronger ninjas, more elaborated plans…"

"Do you know why this sudden change of pace?" asked Kurenai.

"It's only a guess… but it was during that time that Keiko started showing signs of having the Byakugan." answered Hinata. "Attacks specifically directed at her increased too. That's when we understood she was the target."

"Even then, the attacks weren't anything we couldn't handle." said Matsuri. "But they started aiming at the village to draw us out. The inhabitants were civilians with little means to protect themselves against powerful ninjas. We talked with the mayor and decided it was safest for everyone if we left."

"We had been thinking of coming back for some time but it appeared clear that Konoha was the safest place…" continued Sakura. "Until we learnt about agents in the village. Do you know anything new about it?"

"We have the confirmation that this group has people here." nodded Kakashi. "But we don't know who they are. Do you know anything else? Where they are from? Who their leader is?"

"They are from Oni no Kuni." replied Ino. "But even if they were powerful, the ninjas sent after us were low in the hierarchy and barely taught us anything. We only know they have bases in several countries."

"This coincides with what we have learnt from the man. However, it seems that Keiko is not the only target anymore. You are of the list too and all the children are people of interest."

"Do we know why?" frowned Temari.

"Apparently you have developed new technics that interest them. As for the children, there are rumors about the fathers."

The girls tensed. It was worse than they thought. Not only did the enemies knew of their technics but those rumors were worrisome. The shinobi seem the sense their discomfort and said:

"We understand if you don't want to talk about it and we won't insist. But we will need to set up a protection system to protect all of you."

"It was to be expected." sighed Sakura. "What were you thinking?"

"We need to limit you missions outside the village, and if you do leave, you would need to be accompanied by at least two jounins. Same for the children, but they will always be were at least a jounin, even at school. They must never be alone. We will also put the house under Anbu surveillance. Our priorities will be to find the spies and protect you. Is that acceptable?"

The girls exchanged a look and nodded.

"Very well." smiled Kurenai. "Now, let's make a list of the people we can entrust the children with."

* * *

Asuma was watching out the window, a cigarette in his hand when he heard Iruka enter the room.

"How was their first day?" he asked.

"Quite good." answered the scarred man. "The other children will take some time to get used to them but they are following very well. Where is Baki-san?"

"Looking around the school for anything out of place. He also want to check the Academy's employees' backgrounds."

Iruka nodded. He had been informed of potential spies in Konoha. While he couldn't think of anyone in the Academy, they couldn't take any chances.

"What are you doing right now, Asuma?"

"Nothing, why?"

"If you have time, could you make sure the children's enrollment papers are in order and put them in the right files? I have to go back to class."

"Sure, I'll take care of it."

"Thank you." said Iruka but turning back and exiting the room.

Asuma looked at the pile of paper in his hands with a sigh. '_Might as well get it over with.'_ he thought siting at a nearby desk.

* * *

So? What did you think? We still don't know too much about the bad guys yet, but there will be more actions/romance in the next chapter. See you next chapter!


	13. First Day of School

New chapter! I know it has been very long and I really want to thank all of you guys for your support even when I was not updating. Thing is I have too much ideas of scenes I want to write but I have trouble organizing them so they make sense in the story. But I'm not giving up, so don't give up on me either and tell me what you think! Enjoy!

Chapter 13: First day of school

Kakashi let out a sigh as he approached the Academy. After reporting to the Hokage, Jiraiya had asked him to go to the Academy to check on the children. Since Baki had already returned to his Kazekage's side and Asuma had to take Reika home as she was not feeling well, there was no jounin to watch over them. He saluted the two chunins guarding the entrance and headed to the first year classroom. Throwing a look through the door's window, he quickly checked on his targets: Akari and Shinji were listening to the lecture with great focus; Daichi was looking bored through the window while Takeshi, Keiko, and Misa were whispering and checking the clock every five seconds.

'_The afternoon break should begin soon.'_ thought the shinobi. _'I better stay here.' _

Five minutes later, the door opened and the twenty students exited the room, shooting and running.

"Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei." greeted Akari when she noticed him. "How are you doing?"

"Pretty good, and you guys?" he asked, his eyes wandering on the group that approached him.

"Class is very interesting!" she replied enthusiastically, despite the bored look of most of her friends.

"Glad to hear that. I need to talk to Iruka-sensei, I'll see you later."

The children saluted him with polite bows before rushing outside.

"Thank you for coming, Kakashi." said Iruka. "I wasn't sure what to do when Asuma left. I have tons of work to do and not enough eyes or hands."

"It's hard being a teacher."

"And yet, nothing in the world would make me change my job."

"Let me know if I can do something."

"You could take a look at the kids' enrollment papers. Asuma was supposed to help me but…"

"Sure. I'm bringing a list of people the children are allowed to leave with. We need to make sure the guards know it too." explained Kakashi, taking out a scroll.

"It's a rather small list…"

"We want to limit their contacts with people as much as possible until we find the traitors. And the list would be even shorter if we had listened to the girls. Tsunade-sama and Jiraiya also said it would be better if a least one of the boys were around."

"The other kids are going to love it. What else?"

The jounin went on, explaining the protection details intended for the children and their mothers.

Iruka nodded as he reviewed the plan. It would not disturb the normal Academy life while offering great protection to the six children.

"Sound good to me." he said. "The break will be over soon, I will show you where…"

He was interrupted by a breathless student running toward him.

"Iruka-sensei" he shouted. "There's a problem. The new kids… They…"

"Where are they?" cut Kakashi.

"The training area."

Both ninjas rushed to the area and broke through the crowd that had gathered, before stopping abruptly at the scene. Misa was holding a trembling Keiko with Takeshi and Daichi standing protectively in front of them. A little further, Akari and Shinji were standing over three groaning boys laying on the ground. Iruka ran to the center of the group, trying to understand what happened, but Kakashi found himself unable to move, his eyes transfixed on Akari. The glare she was throwing at the kids… It looked familiar. '_No, it can't be.'_ he thought, relaxing as the children started to explain the situation. Apparently, the older children had said something to Keiko that made her sad, and refused to apologize. Things had gone for the worst when one of them pushed Takeshi and it ended with a total victory of the little ones. They had even managed to damage the wall, where small punch marks could be seen. _'As expected from them.'_ He slowly made his way to the laying boys to help them up when Akari suddenly turned to face them. The shinobi felt his heart skip a beat as his eyes meet hers.

That pale skin… those deep onyx eyes… that glare… If not for the pink hair strands falling on her face, he could have sworn it was… _'Sasuke.'_ He had seen this look on his student enough times to recognize it. The infamous Uchiha glare… But it was not possible. _'Or is it?'_ His trance ended when Daichi stepped between him and the girl, throwing him a calculating glance. The ninja stood up as Iruka instructed of the students to return to their classrooms.

"Their first day could have gone better…" said the teacher. "Can you still help me with the enrolment papers?"

The enrolment papers… Maybe he would find something to confirm or refute his thoughts. Kakashi nodded and swiftly headed to the Iruka's office. It took all his training not to rush there and frantically look for information. He spotted the pile of papers on a desk and took out Akari's. He scanned over the information written.

Name: Akari Haruno

Mother: Sakura Haruno

Father: Unknown

Country of birth: Taki no Kuni

Date of Birth: January 4th

Citizenship: Hi no Kuni

'_Wait. January 4__th__?'_ he wondered. He quickly counted the months and frowned. If he went by the nine months rule, Akari would have been conceived about two weeks before they left. _'It's possible she was a premature baby… Still…'_ Frowning, he grabbed the closest paper.

Name: Daichi Subaku

Mother: Temari Subaku

Father: Unknown

Country of birth: Taki no Kuni

Date of Birth: December 14th

Citizenship: Kaze no Kuni

'_A month before they left.'_ His eyes widened as he checked all the papers. Misa: two weeks. Shinji: a month. Takeshi: six weeks. Keiko: right around the time they left. _'This can't be a coincidence.'_

"_Shikamaru and I had noticed that Ino was acting strange, like she was preparing something but would not tell us what. And Sakura was acting the same whenever she and Ino thought they were alone. Over the past few weeks, it looked like all the kunoichis had joined them, but we did not know they were preparing to…" _

And then he remembered: Sakura's sudden wrath against Kiba; the kunoichis hanging out more and more at her house; Baki's comments on Temari's and Matsuri's mood changes; Sakura's and Sasuke's strange behaviors a few weeks before they disappeared; the insistence of the girls not to talk about the fathers… It only made sense if... _'They were pregnant when they left.'_

Kakashi let out a deep breath. If that was true, then it was easy to figure out who the fathers were and it certainly explained how the little cherry blossom got the Uchiha glare. _'The real question is: what now?'_ He needed to tell Tsunade-sama, although she probably already knew. He would also ask her whether he should talk to the girls or not.

He was distracted from his thoughts when he heard shouting from outside the window. He grinned when he saw the girls walking down the street, Sakura chasing after Sai and Naruto. He took notice of the ninjas' eyes wandering to each other when they thought no one was looking. A good guilt-free matchmaking game. '_This is going to be so much fun.'_

* * *

Sakura let out a smirk as her two teammates held their head, groaning in pain. _'Serves them right for being idiots.'_ she thought before greeting the guards in front of the Academy. She had been surprised when the boys asked to go with them to pick up the children. Although they were a little uneasy, she appreciated the support they demonstrated. She looked around, many parents, who had come to gather their kids, were glancing at them. It was annoying, but the girls had gotten used to it.

"It brings back memories, doesn't it, Forehead." said Ino.

"It sure does, Pig."

The group was patiently waiting when Iruka rushed out the building and called out to them.

"Iruka-sensei" greeted the cherry blossom. "Is there something wrong?"

"Something happened." he quickly explained. "Could you come with me?"

"Are they alright?" worried Matsuri.

"They are not hurt but the situation is… You better come."

They quickly arrived in the classroom and Hinata swiftly opened her arms to catch Keiko who had run toward her. She frowned when she noticed she was slightly trembling. Looking around, she saw that the other children were either standing near their mothers or in their arms. Further in the room, the chunin was talking to three angry couples along with their children.

"How could you let something like this happen?" exclaimed one of the women.

"I assure you, Ma'am…" started the teacher.

"Allowing such wild students in the Academy. They are too young, what were you thinking?!" continued one of the men.

"They meet all the requi…"

"What happened?" asked Tenten.

"Your kids attacked ours during the break. Look at what they've done!"

"Your children must have done something." interjected Ino. "Our babies would never hurt someone without reason."

"How dare you! WE raised them properly."

"And WE taught them to respect others."

"This is ridiculous." interrupted Temari. "Those are only scratches. If they had had those during training, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Sensing an incoming loud argument, Naruto gently retrieved the little girl from the Hyuuga's heiress's arms so she could take part in the… discussion. He watched as the rest of the guys guided the children away from the room. _'They don't need to hear that.'_ he thought as he felt Keiko grasp his jacket tighter.

"Don't worry" he said, with a goofy smile. "Your mom will take care of this!"

"Why are they so mean?" she whispered, tearing up.

"What did they say?"

"They laughed at us and our Kaa-chan. They said our Tou-chan were bad people because they were not with us."

The boys tensed. The thought had crossed their mind but to tell something like this to a three years old! Kiba let out a sad sigh as he spotted Takeshi clinching on Akamaru's fur, visibly shaken.

"That's not true, you know!" she continued, taking their silence for an approval. "Kaa-chan said our Tou-chan were great ninjas, very strong and very nice. But she said we couldn't be together for now."

"They sound like great guys." commented Choji. "You're very lucky."

"Okaa-san said we would meet them someday." smiled Akari. "We will make sure to introduce you."

"You better!" exclaimed the blond shinobi, gently patting the girl's pink hair. "So don't worry about what they say."

"That's not what we were… worried about." cut Daichi in a bored voice as he observed the clouds through the window. "They just wouldn't stop, even when we ignored them. And they pushed Takeshi."

"So, you beat them up?" frowned Neji.

"We did not beat them up." coldly replied Shinji. "It was mostly defensive moves. Our only attacks were Akari's punches to the wall to scare them."

The two of them exchanged glares until Lee cut the argument with a loud "Power of youth!" After a moment of embarrassed silence, they decided to head to the training area where Akari happily demonstrated how well she was learning from her mother's technics, sending chills down Naruto and Sasuke's spine. They then went to the playground and played together.

"That bloody woman…" snarled Ino, angrily shooting the front door open. "She's just mad her 'precious little boy' lost to our babies."

"Forget about it." sighed Tenten.

"Besides, we would react the same way if our children were the ones hurt." said Hinata.

The girls fell silent; she was right. They might have actually reacted a lot worse. They already had to physically restrain Sakura when they learned the reason of the fight. It was a good thing Kakashi-sensei interfered or the building might not have survived. There was no telling what would have happened if there had been a scratch on their kids. Their thoughts were interrupted when they arrived at the playground.

Takeshi, riding Akamaru, was being chased by a large swarm of colorful bugs, under the watchful eyes of Kiba and Shino. Further to the left, Gaara had built a large slide using his sand and Misa and Keiko were taking turned going down on Naruto's laps. Akari was seating between Sasuke and Neji, a book in her hands, asking one or the other about kanjis she didn't know. Nearby, Shinji was pretending to listen to Lee's stories while observing Kankuro's weapon arsenal. Under a tree, Daichi and Shikamaru were playing Shogi, Choji watching the match with interest. On a bench to the right, Sai had taken out his scroll and brushes and seemed to be sketching the scene.

Sakura held back a sad sigh. They all looked so content. _'Would they still act like this if they knew the truth?'_ she wondered gloomily. She knew the children would as they had taken a liking into the boys. But, what about the guys? Despite herself, she smiled when she saw Sasuke explain a kanji to their daughter. The life she had always dreamed of…

"Kaa-chan!" shouted Keiko, running toward her mother. "Guess what! Guess what!"

"I don't know," smiled the kunoichi. "what happened?"

"I played on the swing! And uncle Naruto pushed me very high in the sky! It was so big and so blue!"

"That's great, Keiko!"

"How is the situation?" inquired Neji, as the others gathered around the girls.

"Alright." answered Tenten. "Since they did not attack first and only defended themselves, they only got a warning. The other kids got detention."

"Well, now that everything is taken care of, how about heading home?" said Matsuri.

Cheers erupted among the children and the group happily made their way back to the mansion.

* * *

"Tsunade! I will be picking you up at 7 pm. And please wear that red dress I like so much." smirked Jiraiya.

The sannin let out a deep chuckle as he dodged the scrolls the blond Hokage was throwing in rage. He swiftly closed the office door, silencing a last insult before enthusiastically heading back to his apartment. _'I'm going to spend a very good evening…' _


	14. Complications

Hi everyone! Here is the new chapter! I think I made you wait less time than for the last one. No? I'm sorry… At least, I hope you will enjoy this chapter! I tried a new POV, tell me what you think!

* * *

Gaara held back a tired sigh as he climbed the stairs of the Hokage tower, Baki silently walking behind him, carrying the source of his frustration. He saluted Shizune before she rushed to her sensei's office a terrible look on her face. Seconds later, he heard shouting and things being thrown around before the kunoichi opened the door with a polite smile and indicated the young Kazekage that the sannin was ready to receive him.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" asked the Hokage as he entered the room.

Gaara frowned at her appearance: she looked like she hadn't slept the night before, more so than usual. Did something happen he didn't know about?

"I have received news from Suna." he replied, signaling Baki to show the scroll.

Tsunade nodded and quickly read the content, her frown deepening as she reached the end of the letter.

"That's a bad timing." she commented. "What do you intend to do?"

"I don't have many options; I need to go. I will talk with Temari and Matsuri about this but in case they decide to come with me…"

"We will provide an escort to and from Suna borders, of course."

The young man held back a relieved sigh and took the scroll back. The two leaders continued their conversation for a moment before Shizune reminded the Hokage she had a meeting. The shinobis took their leave and quickly went back to their apartment where Kankuro was waiting.

"I saw the girls while you were at the tower, told them we needed to talk to them. They said we could come by whenever this morning at the house or at the training area during the afternoon." explained the puppet master.

"Then better head there now and get this over with." decided Gaara.

"I will remain here and start preparing the trip." indicated Baki before leaving the room.

"How do you think they will take it?" asked the older man.

"They should be expecting this. But they might be reluctant to leave the children behind. Or worst, to take them along."

Kankuro nodded and the ninjas made their way to the mansion.

Half an hour later, the two shinobis found themselves sitting quietly on a couch, observing the reaction of the kunoichis. While Temari had managed to remain mostly emotionless – although they could see irritation shine in her eyes – Matsuri had paled significantly to the point Gaara feared she would pass out.

"They want us to come back to Suna." she whispered.

"I have already sent them a letter to explain the situation and the protection details we designed. I also said we would not be able to stay long, a week at most, and that I would not force you to come." explained the young Kazekage, hiding a frown. _'Does going back to the village horrify her that much?'_

"They want to meet our children." interrupted Temari.

"Are you surprised? You are Suna's first princess." snickered Kankuro. "That's a big deal."

The blond kunoichi sent him a dark look before turning to her younger brother.

"I understand why they want to meet us and them and I do agree we should go. However, I will not take Daichi along. This journey is dangerous under normal circumstances and I will not take any chances considering the situation."

The young shinobi nodded, having expected this answer, and focused on the other kunoichi. She appeared to be in deep thoughts, alternatively frowning and sighing. After a moment, she let out a small smile.

"I agree with Temari." she said. "While I really wish I could bring Misa with me to show her our village, it is best if she stays here until we take care of those ninjas."

"Then we should inform Lady Tsunade of our decision and organize our journey." decided Gaara, standing up. "We should also inform the others so they can adapt the protection details here."

The Suna ninjas nodded and made their way to the Hokage tower.

* * *

Akamaru lazily opened an eye when he heard the sound of small feet running toward him and braced himself for impact. Seconds later, the sweet lily smell of the little Hyuuga filled the air and he soon felt the small girl burying her face in his fur. He raised his head to look at the child, worried something had happened again. His master had been extremely upset the night before and it had taken a lot of persuasion from Shino and Hinata so he wouldn't prank the 'brats' during his school duty the next day. But he quickly relaxed when he heard her laugh happily.

He turned his head when Kiba entered the training area he had been napping in, followed by the rest of the children.

"Oi, Akamaru!" called out the shinobi. "I need to talk with Iruka-sensei real quick; can you keep an eye on them?"

The large dog let out a warning growl.

"I'm not gonna do anything to those pricks, relax."

Satisfied with the answer, he happily barked and watched as his master exited the room before letting his eyes wander on his protégés: Akari and Daichi were reading a book, Shinji was practicing, Keiko had falling asleep against him, Misa was drawing, and Takeshi had opened the window and was looking intensely at a bird in a tree. Moments later, the bird flew from the branch to rest on the little one's arm.

Akamaru let out a deep sight. How could his master and his packmates not realize the obvious? It had hardly taken a sniff for him to understand the truth. He was especially disappointed in the fox. He was very protecting of his mate, so the dog was surprised he still hadn't claimed the little girl as his. Maybe he had become too human as he grew up…

The ninja dog threw a glance at his master's pup. He had considered telling the shinobi about him, but the situation with the female was frustrating. Kiba hadn't told him what happened between them but she had suddenly stopped coming and even now, she was keeping her distance. It greatly hurt his master as he still had feelings for her. At least she was not as reluctant to leave the child with his father as the other kunoichis.

Another point he was not understanding: why would the females hide the pups from their mates? There were enemies to watch out for, so the logical thing to do would be to strengthen the pack, not lie and create distance. Or was there something else happening? Humans really were weird creatures who enjoy complicating simple situations…

Akamaru turned his head as Kiba entered the room, a satisfied smirk on his face. He had done something to the brats. The large dog let out a sigh as he watched his master animatedly talk to Takeshi. Well, at least his partner was happy; that's all that mattered to him.

* * *

Sakura quickly wiped the sweat from her forehead before throwing a look at her opponent. Naruto had 'volunteered' to train with the cherry blossom while the children were at school and they had been at it for several hours, excitedly destroying their training ground much to their sensei's annoyance. The blond shinobi let out a smirk as he summoned his clones and rushed to attack. The kunoichi took a deep breath and focused her chakra. Moments later, the dust cloud cleared and Sakura was pleased to see she did not have a scratch on her skin_. 'The same can't be said about my clothes though.'_ she thought as Naruto ran toward her with a large smile.

"That was great, Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed. "We can try with the Rasengan next."

"Sure, but maybe not today. This technique is very chakra consuming."

"No problem. Do you still… Oi, Teme! What are you doing here?"

The young woman swiftly turned and let out a surprised cry when she noticed the shinobi standing right behind her, a heavy frown shadowing his deep onyx eyes.

"Sasuke-kun? Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"Why are you half naked?"

"What?" Sakura looked down to her shirt, taken aback by the question. "Oh! We were training and my clothes didn't resist."

"You didn't take another outfit with you?"

"No, I didn't think I would need it."

The cherry blossom felt herself blush as he stayed silent, his eyes never leaving her. Granted, her clothes were not in a great shape but it still covered the important areas. The awkward silence was interrupted when Kakashi-sensei presented the young woman with his green jacket. She happily put it on, missing the smirk the shinobi sent to the Uchiha and the glare the young man answered with.

"So, Sakura-chan, do you want to continue to train? asked Naruto.

"No, it's almost time to get the children from school. I should get going… … Do you want to come?"

"Sure! Is Hinata-chan going to be here?"

"Should be. Tenten, Hinata and I are supposed to bring them home today."

"Alright, let's get going then!"

Sakura let out a laugh as the blond shinobi ran out of the training area, quickly followed by their teacher. Sasuke started walking without a word and the young woman could not hold a smile back as she fell into steps beside him.

The Uchiha threw the kunoichi a look as they walked down the village's main street, glaring at the vest she was wearing. He was not happy seeing her with another man's clothing on her back but it could be worse, he reasoned: she could be walking around in her destroyed and revealing shirt or… wearing Naruto's jacket. He would sooner give her his own shirt than let her wear the dobe's clothes. Kakashi-sensei's was acceptable since the man only did that to get on his nerves. He watched as she greeted the weapon mistress when she joined them, her emerald eyes brightening as she listened to the kunoichi's misadventures with her two green teammates during training.

The walk to the school continued calmly until the dobe spotted the Hyuuga heiress and rushed loudly toward her, hugging her and thoroughly ignoring the hard glare Neji sent him. Not that the Hyuuga paid him much attention once he noticed his teammate in the group. Sasuke held back a smirk as the shinobi quickly took place at her side, hardly diverting his eyes from her. _'They're so whipped.'_ he thought before turning his eyes back to this cherry blossom who was observing the situation with a gleeful smile.

The group arrived a few minutes before the end of class and waited near the gate long with the other parents. A moment later, the bell rang and students were soon rushing out. Hinata let out a gentle smile when she saw Kiba going out the building, Keiko sitting on his shoulders and the other children surrounding him.

"Kaa-chan! Look, I'm so high!" exclaimed the little girl.

"Oh, my! You are taller than me now, aren't you." she replied.

"Ah, Uncle Naruto! Put me down, Uncle Kiba!" she demanded before running to the blond who had already opened his arms, ready to catch her.

The kunoichi couldn't stop the warmth that filled her heart as she watched them interact. _'Maybe one day, she will call him 'To-chan' instead of Uncle.'_ she wished before blushing heavily at the thought.

"Hinata, are you ready to go?" asked Tenten.

The young woman hastily looked around and paled when she noticed the group was leaving the school ground.

"Yes, I'm sorry." she said, running to join them as they headed toward the mansion.

* * *

"Warn the master, the targets are on the move."

"Which ones?"

"The two wind mistresses."

"And the children?"

"They will remain in Konoha."

"A shame, but it's better than nothing. Get ready."

* * *

I hope you enjoyed and see you next chapter!


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